'rUeVl 


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BEIsTTLE  Y 


Pv.  C.  JEBB,  M.A.,  LL.D.  Edin. 

KNIGHT    OF   THE    OUDER    OF   THE    SATIOl'R 

PROFESSOR    OF   GREEK    IN    THE    UNIVERSITY    OF    GLASGOW 

FORMERLY  FELLOW  OF  TRINITY  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE 


NEW    YORK 
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ENGLISH   MEN   OF  LETTERS. 

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Goldsmith William  Black. 

Defoe William  Minto. 

Burns J.  C.  Shairp. 

Spenser R.  W.  Church. 

Thackeray .\nthony  TroUope. 

Burke John  Morley. 

Milton Mark  Pattison. 

Hawthorne Henry  James,  Jr. 

SouTHEY E.  Dowden. 

Chaucer A.  W.  Ward. 

BuNVAN J.  A.  Froude. 

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Wqrdsworth F.  Myers. 

Dryden G.  Saintsbury. 

Landor Sidney  Colvin. 

De  Quinxey David  Masson. 

Lamb Alfred  Ainger. 

Bentley R.  C.  Jebb. 

Dickens A.  W.  Ward. 

Gray E.  W.  Gosse. 

Swift Leslie  Stephen. 

Sterne H.  D.  Traill. 

Macaulay J.  Cotter  Morison. 

Fielding Austin  Dobson. 

Sheridan Mrs.  OUphant 

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Published  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  New  York. 

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?A 


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3 


i^^J 


PEEFATORY  NOTE. 

Tub  following  are  tlie  principal  sources  for  an  es- 
timate of  Bentley's  life  and  work: 

1.  Life  of  Bcntley,  by  J.  H.  Monk,  4to,  London,  1830:  2nd  ed., 
2  vols.  8vo,  1833. — 2.  Bentley's  Correspondence,  ed.  C.  Wordsworth, 
2  vols.,  Lond.  1842.— 3.  Bentley's  Works,  ed.  Alex.  Dyce,  1836-38. 
Vols.  L  and  IL — Dissertation  on  Letters  of  Phalaris,  (1)  as  published 
in  1699,  (2)  as  originally  printed  in  Wotton's  Rijfidioiw,  1697.  Epis- 
tola  ad  loannem  Milliinn.  Vol.  III.  —  Boyle  Lectures,  with  Xcw- 
ton's  Letters :  Sermons :  Remarks  upon  a  late  Discourse  of  Free- 
thinking:  Proposals  for  an  edition  of  the  New  Testament:  Answer 
to  the  Remarks  of  Conyers  Middleton. — i.  Bentley's  Fragments  of 
Callimachus,  in  the  edition  of  Graevius,  Utrecht,  1697,  reprinted  in 
Blomfield's  ed.,  London,  1815, — 5.  Emendations  on  Menander  and 
Philemon  (1710),  reprinted,  Cambridge,  1713. — 6.  Horace,  Camb. 
1711,  2nd  ed.,  Amsterdam,  1713.— 7.  Terence,  Cambridge,  1726,  2nd 
ed.,  Amsterdam,  1728.  —  8.  Milton's  Famdisc  Lost,  London,  1732. 
— 9.  Manilius,  London,  1739. 

Notes  by  Bentley  appeared  during  his  lifetime  in 
the  books  of  other  scholars.  Since  his  death,  many 
more  have  been  published  from  his  MSS.  Tliese,  while 
varying  mucli  in  fulness  and  value,  cannot  be  over- 
looked in  a  survey  of  the  field  which  his  studies  cov- 
ered. The  subjoined  list  comprises  the  greater  part 
of  them : 

On  Cicero's  Tusculan  Disputations,  in  Gaisford's  ed.,  Oxford,  1S05. 
— Hephaestion,  in  Gaisford's  ed.,  1810.  —  Lucretius,  in  Oxford  ed., 


vi  BENTLEY, 

1818. — Horace  (curae  novissimae),  in  the  Cambridge  Museum  Criti- 
cum,  I.  194-6,  cd.  T.  Kidd. — Ovid,  in  the  Classical  Journal,  xix.  168, 
258,  ed.  G  Burges. — LucaD,ed.  R.  Cumberland,  Strawberry  Hill,  1700. 
— Silius  Italicus,  Class.  Journ.  in.  381. — L.  Annaeus  Seneca,  ib.  xxxvii. 
1 1,  ed.  T.  Kidd. — Nicander,  in  Museum  Criticum,  i.  370, 445,  ed.  J.  H. 
Monk. — Aristophanes,  in  Classical  Journal,  xi.  131,  248,  xii.  104,  352, 
XIII.  132,  336,  XIV.  130,  ed.  G.  Burges;  and  in  Museum  Criticum,  ii. 
126,  cd.  J.  H.  Monk. — Sophocles,  Theocritus,  Bion,  Moschus,  ed.  E. 
Maltby  in  Morell's  Thesaurus,  reprinted  in  Classical  Journal,  xui. 
244. — Philostratus,  in  Olearius's  edition  (1709). — Hieroclcs,  in  Need- 
ham's  edition  (1709). — Plautus,  in  E.  A.  Sonnenschein's  ed.  of  the 
Captivi,  p.  135,  Lond.  1880. — Iliad,  i.  ii.,  at  the  end  of  J.  Maehly's 
memoir  of  Bentley  (1868),  from  the  MS.  at  Trinity  College,  Cam- 
bridge.— Selected  Notes  on  the  Greek  Testament  (from  the  MS.  at 
Trin.  Coll.,  Camb.),  including  those  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  iu 
Bentleii  Critica  Sacra,  ed.  A.  A.  Ellis,  Camb.  1862. — A  few  anecdota 
from  Bentley's  MS.  notes  on  Homer  (at  Trin.  Coll.,  Camb.)  are  given 
on  page  150. 

R.  Cumberland's  Memoirs  (4to,  1806,  2nd  edition,  in 
2  vols.  8vo,  1807)  deserve  to  be  consulted  indepen- 
dently of  Monk's  quotations  from  tlieni.  The  memoir 
of  Bentley  by  F,  A,  Wolf,  in  his  Litterarische  Analekten 
(pp.  1-89,  Berlin,  1816),  has  the  permanent  interest  of 
its  authorship  and  its  date.  Rud's  Diary,  so  useful 
for  a  part  of  Bentley's  college  history,  was  edited, 
with  some  additional  letters,  by  H.  R,  Luard  for  the 
Cambridge  Antiquarian  Society,  1860.  De  Quincey's 
essay — originally  a  review  of  Monk — has  every  charm 
of  his  style ;  the  sometimes  Avhimsical  judgments 
need  not  be  taken  too  seriously.  Hartley  Coleridge's 
comments  on  Monk's  facts  may  be  seen  iu  the  short 
biography  of  Bentley  which  he  wM-ote  in  the  Worthies 
of  YorksJdre  and  Lancasldre  (pp.  65-1 74).  In  "  Rich- 
ard Bentley,  eine  Biographic"  (Leipzig,  1868),  Jacob 
Maehly  gives  a  concise  sketch  for  German  readers,  on 


niEFATORY  NOTE.  vii 

Monk's  plan  of  a  continuous  chronological  narrative, 
in  which  notices  of  the  literary  works  are  inserted  as 
they  occur. 

It  is  proper  to  state  the  points  which  are  distinctive 
of  the  present  volume:  1.  In  regard  to  the  external 
lacts  of  Bentley's  life,  I  have  been  able  to  add  some 
traits  or  illustrations  from  contemporary  or  other 
sources:  these  are  chiefly  in  chapters  i.  in.  vir.  xii. — 
2.  Chapter  vi.  is  condensed  from  some  results  of  stud- 
ies in  the  University  life  of  Bentley's  time,  and  in  the 
history  of  Trinity  College. — 3.  The  controversy  on 
the  Letters  of  Phalaris  has  hitherto  been  most  familiar 
to  English  readers  through  De  Quincey's  essay  on 
Bentley,  or  the  brilliant  passage  in  Macaulay's  essay 
on  Temple.  Both  versions  are  based  on  Monk's.  The 
account  given  here  will  be  found  to  present  some  mat- 
ters under  a  different  light.  In  such  cases  the  views 
are  those  to  which  I  was  led  by  a  careful  examination 
of  the  original  sources,  and  of  all  the  literary  evidence 
which  I  could  find. — 4.  My  aim  has  been  not  more  to 
sketch  the  facts  of  Bentley's  life  than  to  estimate  his 
work,  the  character  of  his  powers,  and  bis  place  in 
scholarship.  Here  the  fundamental  materials  are  Bent- 
ley's writings  themselves.  To  these  I  have  given  a 
comparatively  large  share  of  the  allotted  space.  My 
treatment  of  them  has  been  independent  of  any  pred- 
ecessor. 

The  courtesy  of  the  Master  of  Trinity  afforded  me 
an  opportunity  of  using  Bentley's  marginal  notes  on 
Homer  at  a  time  when  they  Avould  not  otherwise 
have  been  accessible.  Mr.  Tyrrell,  Regius  Professor  of 
Greek  in  the  University  of  Dublin,  favoured  me  with 
information  regarding  a  manuscript  in  the  Library. 


BENTLEY. 


Prof.  A.  Michaelis,  of  Strassburg,  and  Mr.  J.  W.  Clark, 
of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  kindly  lent  me  some 
books  and  tracts  relating  to  Bentley. 

My  thanks  are  especially  due  to  Dr.  Hort,  for  read- 
inw  the  proof-sheets  of  chapter  x. ;  and  to  Mr.  Munro, 
for  reading  those  of  chapters  viii.  and  ix.  To  both  I 
have  owed  most  valuable  suggestions.  For  others, 
on  many  points,  I  have  been  indebted  to  Dr.  Luard, 
Registrary  of  the  University  of  Cambridge ;  who, 
with  a  kuidness  which  I  cannot  adequately  acknowl- 
edge, has  done  me  the  great  favour  of  reading  the 
whole  book  during  its  passage  through  the  press. 

The  College,  Glasgow, 

February,  1882.       


ANNALS  OF  BENTLEY'S  LIFE. 


1662 
1672 
1676 
1680 
1682 
1683 
1685 
1689 
1690 
1691 
1692 
1693 
1694 
1695 
1696 
1697 
1698 
1699 

1700 
1701 


Ml. 

10 
14 

18 
20 
21 
23 
27 
28 
29 
30 
31 
32 
33 
31 
35 
36 
37 

38 
39 


I.  Earlier  Period.— 1662-1699. 

Jan.  27.     Birth. 

Goes  to  Wakefield  School. 

Enters  St.  John's  Coll.,  Cambridge. 

B.A.  Degree. 

Master  of  Spalding  School.    Tutor  to  J.  Stillingfleet. 

M.A.  Degree. 

James  II. 

William  and  Mary.  Goes  with  J.  stillingfleet  to  Oxford. 

Ordained.     Chaplain  to  Bp.  Stillingfleet. 

Letter  to  Mill.  • 

Boyle  Lectures.    Prebendary  of  Worcester.    Temple's  Essay. 

Fragments  of  CalKviachus.     Nominated  King's  Librarian. 

Appointed,  April  12.    Wotton's  Reflections. 

Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to  King.— F.R.S.— Boyle's  Phalaris. 

Promotes  reparation  of  Camb.  Press.— D.D. 

First  essay  on  Phalaris  in  2nd  ed.  of  Wotton. 

Jan.     ' '  Boyle  against  Bentley. ' ' 

Mar.     ^'Bentley  against  Boyle."— UiLSter  of  Trin.  Coll.,  Camb. 

II.  At  Cambridge.— 1700-1742. 
Feb.  1.     Installed  at  Trin. — Vice-Chancellor. 
Jan.  7.    Marriage. — Archdeacon  of  Ely. 


ANXALS  OF  BEXTLEY'S  LIFE.— Coniinvol 


Anne. 

College  Reforms.— Swift's  Baitle  of  the  liooks  (1704). 

Aids  L.  Kuslor,  T.  Ilcmsterhuya. 

Feb.  10.     Pclition  from  Fellows  of  Trin.  to  Up.  Mooic.     J/f- 

nander  and.  i'/u7<.mon. —Thornhill's  portrait  ofB. 
Doc.  8.     Horace. 

Bp.  cites  B.  to  Ely  House.    Remarks  in  reply  to  Collin."!. 
FiitST  Tkul  at  Ely  IIocse.— July  31.  Up.  Jlooro  dies  before 

judgment  has  been  given.      Aug.  1.  Death   of  Queen 

Anuc.    Gcorg'e  I. 

Jacobite  Revolt.    B.  's  Sermon  on  Popery. 

Petition  from  Fellows  of  Trin.  to  Crown. 

B.  Regius  Prof  of  Divinity.    George  I.  visits  Cambridge. 

B.  arrested.     Deprived  of  Degrees  by  Senate  (Oct.  17). 

B.  makes  terms  with  Miller. 

Proposals  for  edition  of  Kew  Testament. 

Mar.  26.     B.'s  degrees  restored. — Declines  sec  of  Bristol 

B.'s  Latin  speech  at  Commencement 

Terence  published. 

Gcorg'e  II.    Death  of  Kcwton. 

George  II.  at  Cambridge. — B.'s  illness.— Colbatch  active. 

Bp.  Greene  cites  B.  to  appear.     Veto  by  King's  Bench. 

Senate  House  opened. 

Fire  at  Cottonian  Library. 

B.'s  edition  ot Paradise  Lost.     Ho  undertakes  Homer. 

Second  Trial  at  Ely  House. 

April  27.     Bp.  Greene  sentences  B.  to  deprivation. 

Efforts  to  procure  execution  of  the  judgment. 

April  22.    End  of  the  struggle.     B.  remains  in  possessioa 

Manilius. 

Death  of  Mrs.  Bentley. 

March.    Pope's  enlarged  Dunciad,  with  verses  on  B. 

June.    6.  examines  for  the  Craven.    July  11.    His  death. 

Dates  of  some  PRiscirAL  Works. 
Letter  to  Mill. 
Boyle  Lectures. 
Fragments  of  Callimachus. 
Enlarged  Dissertation  on  Phalaris. 
Emendations  on  Menander  and  Philemon. 
Horace. 

Remarks  on  a  late  Discourse  of  Free  thinking. 
Terence. 

Edition  of  Paradise  Lost. 
Manilius. 

1* 


X.i. 

1702 

40 

1702-4 

40  2 

1706-8 

44-6 

1710 

48 

1711 

49 

17l:l 

51 

1714 

52 

1715 

53 

1716 

54 

1717 

55 

1718 

56 

1719 

57 

1720 

6S 

1724 

62 

1725 

63 

1720 

64 

1727 

65 

1728 

66 

1729 

67 

1730 

68 

1731 

69 

1732 

70 

1733 

71 

1734 

72 

1735-7 

73-5 

1738 

76 

1739 

77 

1740 

78 

1742 

80 

1091 

29 

1G92 

30 

1693 

31 

1699 

37 

1710 

48 

1711 

49 

1713 

51 

1726 

64 

1732 

70 

1739 

77 

CONTENTS. 


CHAriER  I.  p^„^ 

Earlt  Life.— Tiie  Lkttee  to  Mill 1 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Boyle  Lectures ^^ 

CHAPTER  in. 
Learned  Correspondence.— The  King's  Librarian     ....     33 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Controversy  on  tue  Letters  of  Phalaris    .  39 

CHAPTER  V. 

no 

Bentley's  Dissertation "" 

CHAPTER  TI. 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge S* 

CHAPTER  YII. 
Bentlet  as  Master  of  Trinity 95 

CHAPTER  Yin. 
Literary  Work  after  1700.— Horace 121 


xii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IX.  P^GB 

Other  Classical  Studies. — Terence. — Manilius. — Homer  .     .133 

CHAPTER  X. 
The  Proposed  Edition  of  the  New  Testament 154 

CHAPTER  XI. 
English  Style. — Edition  of  "Paradise  Lost" 169 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Domestic  Life. — Last  Years 188 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Bentley's  Place  in  the  History  of  Scholarship 202 


BENTLEY. 

CHAPTER  I. 

EARLY  LIFE. THE  LETTER  TO  MILL. 

Richard  Bextlev  was  born  on  January  27, 1GG2.  A  re- 
markable variety  of  interest  belongs  to  his  life  of  eighty 
years.  lie  is  tlie  classical  critic  whose  thoroughly  origi- 
nal genius  set  a  new  example  of  method,  and  gave  a  deci- 
sive bent  to  the  subsequent  course  of  scholarship.  Amongst 
students  of  the  Greek  Testament  he  is  memorable  as  the 
first  who  defined  a  plan  for  constructing  the  whole  text 
directly  from  the  oldest  documents.  His  English  style 
has  a  place  of  its  own  in  the  transition  from  the  prose  of 
the  seventeenth  century  to  that  of  the  eighteenth.  Dur- 
ing forty  years  he  was  the  most  prominent  figure  of  a 
great  English  University  at  a  stirring  period.  And  evcr}'- 
thing  that  he  did  or  wrote  bears  a  vivid  impress  of  per- 
sonal character.  The  character  may  alternately  attract  and 
repel ;  it  may  provoke  a  feeling  in  which  indignation  is 
tempered  only  by  a  sense  of  the  ludicrous,  or  it  may  in'e- 
sistibly  appeal  to  our  admiration  ;  but  at  all  moments  and 
in  all  moods  it  is  signally  masterful. 


2  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

His  birthplace  was  Oulton,  a  township  in  the  parish 
of  Rothwell,  near  Wakefield,  in  the  West  Riding  of  York- 
shire. His  family  were  yeomen  of  the  richer  class,  who 
for  some  generations  had  held  property  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Halifax.  Bcntley's  grandfather  had  been  a  cap- 
tain in  the  Royalist  army  during  the  civil  war,  and  had 
died  whilst  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The 
Bentleys  suffered  in  fortune  for  their  attachment  to  the 
Cavalier  party,  but  Thomas  Bentley,  Richard's  father,  still 
owned  a  small  estate  at  Woodlesford,  a  village  in  the  same 
parish  as  Oulton.  After  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  Thom- 
as Bentley,  then  an  elderly  man,  married  in  1661  Sarah, 
daughter  of  Richard  Willie,  of  Oulton,  who  is  described  as 
a  stone-mason,  but  seems  to  have  been  rather  what  would 
now  be  called  a  builder,  and  must  have  been  in  pretty 
good  circumstances ;  he  is  said  to  have  held  a  major's 
commission  in  the  royal  army  during  the  troubles.  It 
was  after  him  that  his  daughter's  first-born  was  called 
Richard.  Bentley's  literary  assailants  in  later  years  en- 
deavoured to  represent  him  as  a  sort  of  ploughboy  who 
had  been  developed  into  a  learned  boor ;  whilst  his  amia- 
ble and  accomplished  grandson,  Richard  Cumberland,  ex- 
hibited a  pardonable  tendency  to  over-estimate  the  family 
claims.  Bentley  himself  appears  to  have  said  nothing  on 
the  subject. 

He  was  taught  Latin  grammar  by  his  mother.  From 
a  day-school  at  Mcthley,  a  village  near  Oulton,  he  was  sent 
to  the  Wakefield  Grammar  School — probably  when  he  was 
not  more  than  eleven  years  old,  as  he  went  to  Cambridge 
at  fourteen.  School-boy  life  must  have  been  more  cheer- 
ful after  the  Restoration  than  it  had  been  before,  to  judge 
from  that  lively  picture  in  North's  "Lives"  of  the  school 
at  Bury  St,  Edmund's,  where  the  master — a  staunch  Royal- 


I.]  EAKLV  I-11"E.-TIIE  LKTTKU  TO  MILL.  3 

ist — was  forced,  "  in  the  drci^s  of  tiino,"  to  obfiervc  "  super- 
hypocritical  fastings  and  scckings,"  and  "  walked  to  cliureli 
after  his  brigade  of  boys,  there  to  endure  the  infliction 
of  divers  holdersforth."  Then  the  King  came  to  his  own 
again,  and  this  scholastic  martyr  had  the  happy  idea  of 
"publishing  his  cavaliershii)  by  putting  all  the  boys  at 
his  school  into  red  cloaks;"  "of  whom  he  had  near  thir- 
ty to  parade  before  him,  through  that  observing  town,  to 
church  ;  which  made  no  vulgar  appearance."  The  only 
notice  of  Bentley's  school -life  by  himself  (so  far  as  I 
know)  is  in  Cumberland's  Memoirs,  and  is  highly  charac- 
teristic. "  I  have  had  frcni  him  at  times  whilst  standing 
at  his  elbow" — says  his  grandson,  who  was  then  a  boy 
about  nine  years  old — "a  complete  and  entertaining  narra- 
tive of  his  school-boy  days,  with  the  characters  of  his  dif- 
ferent masters  very  humorously  displayed,  and  the  punish- 
ments described  which  they  at  times  would  wrongfully  in- 
flict upon  him  for  seeming  to  be  idle  and  regardless  of  his 
task — When  the  dunces,  he  would  say,  could  not  discover 
that  I  was  pondering  it  in  my  mind,  and  fxing  it  more 
firmly  in  my  memory,  than  if  I  had  been  haicliny  it  out 
amongst  the  rest  of  my  school-fellows."  However,  he  seems 
to  have  retained  through  life  a  warm  regard  for  Wakefield 
School.  It  had  a  high  reputation.  Another  of  its  pupils, 
a  few  years  later,  was  John  Potter,  author  of  the  once  pop- 
ular work  on  Greek  antiquities,  editor  of  Lycophron,  and 
afterwards  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

Bentley  was  only  thirteen  when  his  father  died.  His 
grandfather,  Richard  Willie,  decided  that  he  should  go  to 
the  University  without  much  more  delay.  The  boy  had 
his  own  way  to  make;  his  father's  small  estate  had  been 
left  to  a  son  by  the  first  marriage ;  and  in  those  days  there 
was  nothing  to  hinder  a  precocious  lad  from  matriculating 


4  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

at  fourteen,  though  the  ordinary  age  was  already  seven- 
teen or  eighteen.  On  May  24,  1G76,  "  Ricardus  Bentley 
de  Oulton  "  was  enrolled  in  the  Admission  Book  of  St. 
John's  College.  The  choice  of  a  University  may  have 
been  influenced  by  the  fact  that  John  Baskervile,  the  mas- 
ter of  Wakefield  School,  was  a  member  of  Emmanuel  Col- 
lege, Cambridge;  the  choice  of  a  College,  partly  by  the 
fact  that  some  scholarships  for  natives  of  Yorkshire  had 
been  founded  at  St.  John's  by  Sir  Marmaduke  Constable. 
Bentley,  like  Isaac  Newton  at  Trinity,  entered  as  a  sub- 
sizar,  a  student  who  receives  certain  allowances.  St.  John's 
College  was  just  then  the  largest  in  the  University,  and 
appears  to  have  been  as  efficient  as  it  was  distinguished. 
The  only  relic  of  Bentley's  undergraduate  life  is  a  copy 
of  English  verses  on  the  Gunpowder  Plot.  That  stirring 
theme  was  long  a  stock  subject  for  College  exercises. 
Bentley's  verses  have  the  jerky  vigour  of  a  youth  whose 
head  is  full  of  classical  allusions,  and  who  is  bent  on  mak- 
ing points.  The  social  life  of  the  University  probably  did 
not  engage  very  much  of  his  time ;  and  it  is  left  to  us  to 
conjecture  how  much  he  saw  of  two  Cambridge  contem- 
poraries who  afterwards  wrote  against  him — Richard  John- 
son, of  his  own  College,  and  Garth,  the  poet,  of  Peter- 
house  ;  or  of  William  Wotton,  his  firm  friend  in  later  life 
— that  "juvenile  prodigy"  who  was  a  boy  of  fourteen 
when  Bentley  took  his  degree,  and  yet  already  a  Bache- 
lor of  Arts. 

Nothing  is  known  of  Bentley's  classical  studies  whilst 
he  was  an  undergraduate.  His  own  statement,  that  some 
of  his  views  on  metrical  questions  dated  from  earliest 
manhood  {iam  ah  adolescentia),  is  too  vague  to  prove 
anything.  Monk  remarks  that  there  were  no  prizes  for 
classics  at  Cambridge  then.    It  may  be  observed,  however, 


1.]  EARLY  LIFE.— THE  LETTER  TO  MILL.  6 

that  there  was  one  very  important  prize — the  Craven  Uni- 
versity Sohuhirship,  fuundcd  in  10-17.  But  no  competi- 
tion is  recorded  between  1070,  when  Bcntlcy  was  eight 
years  old,  and  1081,  the  year  after  he  took  his  first  doi;rcc. 
The  studies  of  the  Cambridge  Schools  were  Logic,  Ethics, 
Natural  Philosophy,  and  Mathematics.  Bentley  took  high 
honours  in  these.  His  place  was  nominally  sixth  in  the 
first  class,  but  really  third,  since  three  of  tho.sc  above  him 
were  men  of  straw.  The  Vice-chancellor  and  the  two 
Proctors  then  possessed  the  privilege  of  interpolating  one 
name  each  in  the  list,  simply  as  a  compliment,  and  they 
naturally  felt  that  such  a  compliment  was  nothing  if  it 
was  not  courageous.  Bcntley's  degree  had  no  real  like- 
ness, of  course,  to  that  of  third  "Wrangler  now ;  modern 
Mathematics  were  only  beginning,  and  the  other  subjects 
of  the  Schools  had  more  weight ;  the  testing  process,  too, 
was  far  from  thorough. 

Bentley  never  got  a  Fellowship.  In  his  time — indeed, 
until  the  present  century — there  were  territorial  restric- 
tions at  almost  all  Colleges.  As  a  native  of  Yorkshire, 
he  had  been  elected  to  a  Constable  scholarship,  but  the 
same  circumstance  excluded  him  from  a  greater  prize. 
"When  he  graduated,  two  Fellowships  at  St.  John's  were 
already  held  by  Yorkshircmcn,  and  a  third  representative 
of  the  same  county  was  inadmissible.  He  was  a  candi- 
date, indeed,  in  1GS2;  but  as  no  person  not  in  Priest's 
Orders  was  eligible  on  that  occasion,  he  must  have  gone 
in  merely  to  show  what  he  could  do.  The  College  was 
enabled  to  recognise  him  in  other  ways,  however.  He 
was  appointed  to  the  mastership  of  Spalding  School  in 
Lincolnshire.  At  the  end  of  about  a  year,  he  quitted  this 
post  for  one  which  offered  attractions  of  a  different  kind. 
Dr.  Stillingllcet — then  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  and  formerly  a 


6  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

Fellow  of  St.  John's,  Cambridge — wanted  a  tutor  for  his 
second  son :  and  his  chioicc  fell  on  Bentley. 

A  yonth  of  twenty-one,  with  Bentley's  tastes  and  pow- 
ers, could  scarcely  have  been  placed  in  a  more  advantageous 
position.  Stillingfleet  was  already  foremost  amongst  those 
scholarly  divines  who  were  regarded  as  the  champions  of 
Christianity  against  deists  or  materialists,  and  more  partic- 
ularly as  defenders  of  the  Euglisli  Churcb  against  designs 
which  had  been  believed  to  menace  it  since  the  Restora- 
tion. The  researches  embodied  in  Stillingfleet's  Origines 
Sacrae  and  other  works  had  for  their  general  aim  to  place 
the  Anglican  religion  on  the  historical  basis  of  primitive 
times.  In  the  course  of  his  extensive  and  varied  studies, 
he  had  gradually  formed  that  noble  library — one  of  the 
finest  private  collections  then  existing  in  England — which 
after  his  death  was  purchased  for  Dublin  by  Archbishop 
Marsh.  Free  access  to  such  a  library  was  a  priceless  boon 
for  Bentley.  At  the  Dean's  house  be  would  also  meet  the 
best  literary  society  in  London  ;  and  bis  "  patron  " — to  use 
the  phrase  of  that  day — received  bim  on  a  footing  which 
enabled  him  to  profit  fully  by  such  opportunities.  Stil- 
lingfleet could  sympathise  with  the  studies  of  his  son's 
young  tutor.  In  his  own  early  days,  after  taking  his  de- 
gree at  the  same  College,  Stillingfleet  had  accepted  a  do- 
mestic tutorship,  and  "  besides  his  attendance  on  his  prop- 
er province,  the  instruction  of  the  young  gentleman,"  had 
found  time  to  set  about  writing  his  Ireniciun — the  endeav- 
our of  a  sanguine  youth  to  make  peace  between  Presbyte- 
rians and  Prelacy.  A  contemporary  biographer  (Dr.  Tim- 
othy Goodwin)  has  thus  described  Dr.  Stillingfleet :  "He 
was  tall,  graceful,  and  well-proportioned  ;  his  countenance 
comely,  fresh,  and  awful ;  in  his  conversation,  cheerful  and 
discreet,  obliging,  and  very  instructive."     To  the  day  of 


1.]  KAKLV  LIFK— TlIK  LETTER  To  MM, I,.  7 

his  death  in  1699  Stillingflcct  was  Bcntley's  best  friend — 
the  arcliitect,  indeed,  of  his  early  fortunes. 

The  next  six  years,  from  the  twenty -first  to  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  his  age  (1083-1 089),  were  passed  by  Bentlcy 
in  Dr.  StiUingtlect's  family.  It  was  during  this  period, 
wlien  he  enjoyed  much  leisure  and  the  use  of  a  first-rate 
library,  that  Bentley  laid  the  solid  foundations  of  his 
learning.  He  eidarged  his  study  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
classics,  writing  notes  in  the  margin  of  his  books  as  he 
went  along.  In  those  days,  it  will  be  remembered,  such 
studies  were  not  facilitated  by  copious  dictionaries  of 
classical  biography,  geography,  and  antiquities,  or  by  those 
well-ordered  and  comprehensive  lexicons  which  exhibit  at 
a  glance  the  results  attained  by  the  labours  of  successive 
generations.  Bentley  now  began  to  make  for  himself  lists 
of  the  authors  whom  he  found  cited  by  the  ancient  gram- 
marians; and  it  may  be  observed  that  a  series  of  detract- 
ors, from  Boyle's  allies  to  Richard  Dawes,  constantly  twit 
Bentley  with  owing  all  his  learning  to  "indexes."  Thus, 
in  a  copy  of  verses  preserved  by  Granger,  Bentley  figures  as 

"  Zoilus,  tir'd  with  turning  o'er 
Dull  indexes,  a  jirccious  store." 

At  this  time  he  also  studied  the  Xew  Testament  critically. 
Ilis  labours  on  the  Old  Testament  may  be  described  in  his 
own  words :  "  I  wrote,  before  I  was  twenty-four  years  of 
age,  a  sort  of  Hcxapla  ;  a  thick  volume  in  quarto,  in  the 
first  column  of  which  I  inserted  every  word  of  the  Hebrew 
Bible  alphabetically  ;  and,  in  five  other  columns,  all  the 
various  interpretations  of  those  words  in  the  Chaldee,  Syr- 
iac,  Vulgate,  Latin,  Septuagint,  and  Aquila,  Symmachus, 
and  Theodotion,  that  occur  in  the  whole  Bible." 

Bentlev  did  not  take  Orders  till  1G90,  Avhcn  he  was 


8  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

twenty-eight,  but  he  had  probably  always  intended  to  do 
so.  His  delay  may  have  been  partly  due  to  the  troubles 
of  James  II.'s  reign.  Immediately  after  the  Revolution 
Dean  Stillingfleet  was  raised  to  the  see  of  Worcester. 
Ilis  eldest  son  had  gone  to  Cambridge ;  but  Bcntley's 
pupil,  James,  was  sent  to  Wadham  College,  Oxford. 
Bentley  accompanied  him  thither ;  and,  having  taken  an 
ad  eundem  degree  of  M.A.,  was  placed  on  the  books  of 
"Wadham  College.  He  continued  to  reside  at  Oxford  till 
the  latter  part  of  1690 ;  and  we  find  him  engaged  on  be- 
half of  the  University  in  negotiations  for  the  purchase 
of  the  library  which  had  belonged  to  Dr.  Isaac  Voss, 
Canon  of  Windsor.  This  valuable  collection — including 
the  books  of  Gerard  John  Voss,  Isaac's  father — ultimate- 
ly went  to  Leyden ;  not,  apparently,  through  any  fault  of 
Bentley's,  though  that  was  alleged  during  his  controversy 
with  Boyle. 

While  living  at  Oxford,  Bentley  enjoyed  access  to  the 
Bodleian  Library ;  and,  as  if  his  ardour  had  been  stimu- 
lated by  a  survey  of  its  treasures,  it  is  at  this  time  that 
his  literary  projects  first  come  into  view.  "  I  had  de- 
cided" (he  informs  Dr.  Mill)  "to  edit  the  fragments  of 
all  the  Greek  poets,  with  emendations  and  notes,  as  a  sin- 
gle great  work."  Perhaps  even  Bentley  can  scarcely  then 
have  realised  the  whole  magnitude  of  such  a  task,  and 
would  have  gauged  it  more  accurately  two  years  later, 
when  he  had  edited  the  fragments  of  Callimachus.  Nor 
was  this  the  only  vast  scheme  that  floated  before  his 
mind.  In  a  letter  to  Dr.  Edward  Bernard  (then  Savilian 
Professor  of  Astronomy  at  Oxford)  he  discloses  a  project 
of  editing  three  Greek  lexicons — those  of  Hcsychius  and 
Suidas,  with  the  Etymolocjicum  Magnum — in  three  paral- 
lel columns  for  each  page.     These  would  make  three  folio 


1.]  EARLY  LIFE.— TDE  LETTER  TO  MILL.  9 

volumes;  a  fourth  volume  would  contain  other  lexicons 
(as  tho.sc  of  Julius  I'ullu.v,  Erotian,  and  I'hrynichus)  which 
did  not  lend  themselves  to  the  arrangement  in  column. 
Ilis  thoughts  were  also  busy  with  Philostratus  (the  Greek 
biographer  of  the  Sophists) — with  Lucretius  —  and  with 
the  astronomical  poet  Manilius.  Bentley  excelled  all  pre- 
vious scholars  in  accurate  knowledge  of  the  classical  me- 
tres. His  sojourn  at  O.xford  is  the  earliest  moment  at 
which  wc  find  a  definite  notice  of  his  metrical  studies. 
The  Baroccian  collection  in  the  Bodleian  Library  contains 
some  manuscripts  of  the  Greek  "Hand-book  of  Metres" 
which  has  come  down  under  the  name  of  the  grammarian 
Ilephaestion.  Bentley  now  collated  these,  using  a  copy 
of  the  edition  of  Turnebus,  in  which  be  made  some  mar- 
ginal notes ;  the  book  is  in  the  Library  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge. 

When  Bentley  was  thirty-six,  he  could  still  say,  *'  I 
have  never  published  anything  yet,  but  at  the  desire  of 
others."  Before  he  left  Oxford,  towards  the  end  of  1690, 
a  friend  had  already  engaged  him  to  appear  in  print. 
The  Baroccian  collection  of  manuscripts  contained  the 
only  known  copy  of  a  chronicle  written  in  Greek  by  a 
certain  John  of  Antioch.  He  is  sometimes  called  John 
Malelas,  or  simply  Malclas.  This  is  the  Greek  form  of 
a  Syriac  surname  similar  in  import  to  the  Greek  rhetor — 
"  orator,"  "  eloquent  writer."  It  was  given  to  other  liter- 
ary men  also,  and  merely  served  to  distinguish  this  John 
of  Antioch  from  other  well-known  men  of  the  same  name 
and  place.  His  date  is  uncertain,  but  may  probably  be 
placed  between  the  seventh  and  tenth  centuries,  Ilis 
chronicle  is  a  work  of  the  kind  which  was  often  under- 
taken by  Christian  compilers.  Beginning  from  the  Crea- 
tion, he  sought  to  give  a  chronological  sketch  of  universal 


10  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

history  down  to  his  own  time.  The  work,  as  extant,  is 
incomplete.  It  begins  with  a  statement  characteristic  of 
its  general  contents:  "After  the  death  of  Hephaestus 
(Vulcan),  his  son  Helius  (the  Sun)  reigned  over  the 
Egyptians  for  the  space  of  4407  days;"  and  it  breaks 
ofi  at  the  year  560  a.d.,  five  years  before  the  death  of 
Justinian.  Historically  it  is  worthless,  except  in  so  far 
as  it  preserves  a  few  notices  by  writers  contemporary  with 
the  later  emperors ;  and  it  has  no  merit  of  form.  Scali- 
gcr  once  described  a  similar  chronicle  as  a  dust-bin.  Yet 
the  mass  of  rubbish  accumulated  by  John  of  Antioch  in- 
cludes a  few  fragments  of  better  things.  Not  only  the 
classical  prose-writers  but  the  classical  poets  were  among 
his  authorities,  for  he  made  no  attempt  to  discriminate 
facts  from  myths.  In  several  places  he  preserves  the 
names  of  lost  works.  Here  and  there,  too,  a  bit  of  clas- 
sical prose  or  verse  has  stuck  in  the  dismal  swamp  of  his 
text.  Eager  to  reconstruct  ancient  chronology,  the  stu- 
dents of  the  seventeenth  century  had  not  overlooked  this 
unattractive  author.  In  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  two  Ox- 
ford scholars  had  successively  studied  him.  John  Greg- 
ory (who  died  in  1646)  had  proved  the  authorship  of  the 
chronicle — mutilated  though  it  was  at  both  ends — by 
showing  that  a  passage  of  it  is  elsewhere  quoted  as  from 
the  chronicle  of  Malelas.  Edmund  Chilmead — a  man  re- 
markable for  his  attainments  in  scholarship,  mathematics, 
and  music — translated  it  into  Latin,  adding  notes.  As  a 
Royalist,  Chilmead  was  ejected  from  Christ  Church  by  the 
Parliamentary  Visitation  of  1648.  He  died  in  1653,  just 
as  his  work  was  ready  to  be  printed.  After  the  lapse  of 
thirty-eight  years,  the  Curators  of  the  Sheldonian  Press 
resolved  in  1690  to  edit  it.  The  manuscript  chronicle 
had  already  gained  some  repute  through  the  citations  of 


I.]  EARLY  LIFE.-TUE  LETTER  TO  MILL.  11 

it  by  such  scholars  as  Seldcn,  Uslicr,  Pearson,  Stanley, 
Lloyd.  It  was  arranged  that  an  introduction  should  be 
•written  by  Humphrey  Ilody,  who  had  been  James  Stil- 
lingflcct's  College  tutor  at  Wadliara,  and  had,  like  Bent- 
ley,  been  appointed  Chaplain  to  the  Bishop  of  AVorcestor. 
He  was  an  excellent  scholar,  and  performed  his  task  in 
a  highly  creditable  manner.  A  general  supervision  of  the 
edition  had  boon  entrusted  to  Dr.  John  Mill,  Principal  of 
St.  Edmund  Hall,  whose  learning  has  an  abiding  monu- 
ment in  his  subsequent  edition  of  the  New  Testament 
One  day  Mill  and  Bentlcy  were  walking  together  at  Ox- 
ford, when  the  conversation  turned  on  the  chronicle  of 
Malelas.  Bentley  said  that  he  would  like  to  see  the  book 
before  it  was  published.  Mill  consented,  on  condition 
that  Bentley  would  communicate  any  suggestions  that 
might  occur  to  him.  The  proof-sheets  were  then  sent  to 
Bentley ;  who  shortly  afterwards  left  Oxford,  to  take  up 
his  residence  as  chaplain  with  the  Bishop  of  AVorcester. 

Dr.  Mill  presently  claimed  Beutley's  promise ;  and,  thus 
urged,  Bentley  at  length  sent  his  remarks  on  Malelas,  in 
the  form  of  a  Latin  Letter  addressed  to  Dr.  Mill.  He 
elsewhere  says  that  ho  had  been  further  pressed  to  write 
it  by  the  learned  Bishop  Lloyd.  In  June,  1691,  the 
chronicle  appeared,  with  Bentley's  Letter  to  Mill  as  an 
appendix.  This  edition  ("Oxonii,  e  Thcatro  Sheldoni- 
ano")  is  a  moderately  thick  octavo  volume;  tirst  stands 
a  note  by  Ilody,  on  the  spelling  of  the  chronicler's  sur- 
name ;  then  his  Prolegomena,  filling  G4  pages ;  the  Greek 
text  follows,  with  Chilmcad's  Latin  version  in  parallel  col- 
umns, and  foot-notes ;  and  the  last  98  pages  arc  occupied 
by  Bentley's  Letter  to  Mill. 

Briefly  observing  that  he  leaves  to  Hody  the  question 
of  the   chronicler's   identitv   and  age,  Bentley  comes  at 


12  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

once  to  the  text.  Malelas  had  treated  Greek  mytliology 
as  history,  interweaving  it  with  other  threads  of  ancient 
record.  Thus,  after  enumerating  some  fabulous  kings  of 
Attica,  he  proceeds:  "Shortly  afterwards,  Gideon  was 
leader  of  Israel.  Contemporary  with  him  was  the  famous 
lyric  poet  Orpheus,  of  Thrace."  Malelas  then  quotes 
some  statements  as  to  the  mystic  theology  taught  by 
Orpheus.  One  of  these  is  a  sentence  which,  as  he  gives 
it,  seems  to  be  composed  of  common  words,  but  is  wholly 
unintelligible.  Bentley  takes  up  this  sentence.  He  shows 
that  the  deeply  corrupted  words  conceal  the  names  of 
three  mystic  divinities  in  the  later  Orphic  system,  sym- 
bolical, respectively,  of  Counsel,  Light,  and  Life.  He 
proves  this  emendation,  as  certain  as  it  is  wonderful,  by 
quoting  a  passage  from  Daraascius — the  last  great  Neo- 
platonist,  who  lived  in  the  early  part  of  the  sixth  century, 
and  wrote  a  treatise  called  "  Questions  and  Answers  on 
First  Principles,"  in  which  he  sketches  the  theology  of 
"the  current  Orphic  rhapsodies."  This  treatise  was  not 
oven  partially  printed  till  1828;  and  Bentley  quotes  it 
from  a  manuscript  in  the  library  of  Corpus  Christi  Col- 
lege, Oxford.  He  next  deals  with  a  group  of  fictitious 
"oracles"  which  Malelas  had  reduced  from  hexameter 
verse  into  prose  of  the  common  dialect,  and  shows  that 
several  of  them  closely  resemble  some  which  he  had  found 
in  a  manuscript  at  Oxford,  entitled  "Oracles  and  Theolo- 
gies of  Greek  Philosophers." 

Then  he  turns  to  those  passages  in  which  the  chronicle 
cites  the  Attic  dramatists.  He  demonstrates  the  spurious- 
ness  of  a  fragment  ascribed  to  Sophocles.  He  confirms  or 
corrects  the  titles  of  several  lost  plays  which  Malelas  ascribes 
to  Euripides,  and  incidentally  amends  numerous  passages 
which  he  has  occasion  to  quote.     Discursive  exuberance  of 


I.]  EARLY  LIFE.— THE  LETTER  TO  MILL.  13 

learnini;  characterises  the  whole  Letter.  A  sincjlc  exam- 
ple will  serve  to  illustrate  it.  Malelas  says:  "Euripides 
brought  out  a  play  about  Pasiphau."  Bentlcy  remarks 
on  this :  "  I  do  not  speak  at  random ;  and  I  am  certain 
that  no  ancient  writer  mentions  a  Pa-siphau  of  Euripides." 
The  comic  poet  Alcreus,  indeed,  composed  a  piece  of  that 
name,  which  is  said  to  have  been  exhibited  in  the  same 
year  as  the  recast  Plutus  of  Aristophanes.  It  is  true, 
however,  Bcntley  adds,  that  the  story  of  Piisiphao  had 
been  handled  by  Euripides,  in  a  lost  play  called  The  Cre- 
tans. This  he  proves  from  a  scholiast  on  the  Frogs  of 
Aristophanes.  But  the  scholiast  himself  needs  correction  : 
who  says  that  Euripides  introduced  Aeropu  in  The  Cretans. 
Here  he  is  confounding  The  Cretans  with  another  lost 
play  of  Euripides,  called  the  Women  of  Crete:  the  former 
dealt  with  the  story  of  Icarus  and  Pasiphae,  the  latter 
with  that  of  Aerope,  Atreus,  and  Thyestes.  Porphyry, 
in  his  book  on  Abstinence,  quotes  nine  verses  from  a  play 
of  Euripides,  in  which  the  chorus  are  addressing  Minos. 
Grotius,  in  his  Excerpts  from  Greek  Comedies  and  Trage- 
dies, had  attempted  to  amend  these  corrupted  verses,  and 
had  supposed  them  to  come  from  the  Women  of  Crete. 
Bentley  (incidentally  correcting  a  grammarian)  demon- 
strates that  they  can  have  belonged  only  to  The  Cretans. 
He  then  turns  to  the  Greek  verses  themselves.  Grotius 
had  given  a  Latin  version  of  them,  in  the  same  metre. 
This  metre  was  the  anapaestic — one  which  had  been  fre- 
quently used  by  the  scholars  of  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries,  both  in  translations  and  in  original  poems. 
Bentley  points  out  that  one  of  its  most  essential  laws  had 
been  ignored,  not  only  by  Grotius,  but  by  the  modern  Lat- 
inists  generally,  including  Joseph  Scaligcr.  The  ancients 
regarded  the  verses  of  this  metre  as  forming  a  continuous 
2 


14  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

chain ;  hence  the  last  syllable  of  a  verse  was  not  indiffer- 
ently long  or  short,  but  necessarily  one  or  the  other,  as  if 
it  occurred  in  the  middle  of  a  verse.     Thus  Grotius  had 

written : 

"  Quas  prisca  domos  dedit  indigena 

Quercus  Chalyba  secta  bipenni." 

Here  the  short  a  at  the  end  of  indigena  should  be  a 
long  syllable,  in  order  to  mate  an  anapwst  (-^-).  This 
is  known  as  Bentley's  discovery  of  the  synaphea  ("  connec- 
tion'''') in  anapffistic  verse.  He  further  illustrates  the 
metre  from  fragments  of  the  Latin  poet  Attius — which  he 
amends;  one  fragment,  indeed,  he  recognises  in  the  prose 
of  Cicero's  Tusculans.  Returning  to  the  fragment  of  The 
Cretans  in  Porphyry,  which  Grotius  had  handled  amiss, 
Bentley  corrects  it — with  certainty  in  some  points,  with 
rashness  in  others,  but  everywhere  brilliantly.  Nor  has  he 
done  with  the  verses  yet.  They  mention  the  cypress  as 
"native"  to  Crete.  This  leads  Bentley  to  discuss  and 
amend  passages  in  Pliny's  Natural  History,  in  the  History 
of  Plants  by  Theophrastus,  and  in  the  geographical  work 
of  Solinus. 

Elsewhere  Malelas  refers  to  the  lost  Meleager  of  Euripi- 
des. Having  quoted  another  mention  of  it  from  Hesych- 
ius,  Bentley  takes  occasion  to  show  at  length  the  principal 
causes  of  error  in  that  lexicon.  This  is  one  of  the  most 
striking  parts  of  the  Letter.  Then,  in  numerous  places,  he 
restores  proper  names  which  Malelas  had  defaced.  The 
chronicler  says  that  the  earliest  dramatists  were  Themis, 
Minos,  and  Auleas.  Bentley  shows  that  he  means  Thespis, 
Ion  of  Chios,  and  ^schylus.  Thespis  leads  him  to  quote 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  and  to  explain  some  mysterious 
words  by  showing  that  they  are  specimens  of  a  pastime 
which  consisted  in  framing  a  sentence  with  the  twentj- 


I.]  EARLY  LIFE— TIIK  LETTER  TO  MILL.  15 

four  letters  of  the  alphabet,  each  used  once  only.  Speak- 
ino;  of  Ion,  he  gives  an  exhaustive  discussion  of  that  poet's 
date  and  writings,  verse  and  prose.  The  Letter  ends  with 
some  remarks  on  the  form  of  the  name  Malclus.  Ilody 
had  found  fault  with  Bcntloy  for  adding  the  final  s,  which 
no  previous  scholar  used.  Bentlcy  replies  that  a  at  the 
end  of  a  foreign  name  ordinarily  became  as  in  Greek — as 
Agrippas.  And  Malclas  being  the  Greek  form  of  a  Greek 
writer's  name,  we  should  keep  it  in  Latin  and  English,  just 
as  Cicero  says  Lysias,  not  Li/sia.  The  Latin  exceptions 
are  the  domesticated  names — those  of  slaves,  or  of  Greeks 
naturalised  by  residence :  as  Sosia,  Phania.  But  it  was 
objected  that  Malcia  was  a  "  barbarian  "  name,  and  there- 
fore indeclinable.  Bentlcy  answers  that  the  Ilun  Attila 
appears  in  Greek  writers  as  Allilas — adding  half  a  dozen 
Uuns,  Goths,  and  Vandals.  The  prejudice  in  favour  of 
Malela  arose  from  a  simple  cause.  The  chronicler  is  men- 
tioned only  thrice  by  Greek  writers :  two  of  these  three 
passages  happen  to  have  the  name  in  the  genitive  case, 
which  IS,  Malela ;  the  third,  however,  has  thciiominative, 
which  is  Malelas.  Mr.  Ilody  was  not  convinced  about  the 
5.  The  note — in  four  large  pages  of  small  print — which 
precedes  his  Prolegomena  was  written  after  he  had  read 
Bentley's  argument ;  and  ends  with  a  prayer.  Mr.  Ilody's 
aspiration  is  that  he  may  always  write  in  a  becoming  spirit; 
and,  finally,  that  he  may  be  a  despiser  of  trifles  {nugarum 
denique  contemptor). 

Taken  as  a  w^hole,  Bentley's  Letter  to  Mill  is  an  extraor- 
dinary performance  for  a  scholar  of  twenty-eight  in  the 
year  1690.  It  ranges  from  one  topic  to  another  over  al- 
most the  whole  field  of  ancient  literature.  Upwards  of 
sixty  Greek  and  Latin  writers,  from  the  earliest  to  the 


16  BENTLEY.  [chap, 

latest,  are  incidentally  explained  or  corrected.  There  are 
many  curious  tokens  of  the  industry  with  which  Bentley 
had  used  his  months  at  Oxford.  Thus,  referring  to  a 
manuscript  of  uncertain  origin  in  the  Bodleian  Library, 
"I  have  made  out,"  he  says,  "from  some  iambics  at  the 
beginning — almost  effaced  by  age — that  it  contains  the 
work  of  the  grammarian  Theognotus,  whom  the  author 
of  the  EUjmolorjicimi  Magnum  quotes  several  times ;"  and 
be  gives  his  proof. 

It  is  interesting  to  see  how  strongly  this  first  production 
bears  the  stamp  of  that  peculiar  style  which  afterwards 
marked  Bentley's  criticism.  It  is  less  the  style  of  a  writer 
than  of  a  speaker  who  is  arguing  in  a  strain  of  rough  vi- 
vacity with  another  person.  The  tone  is  often  as  if  the 
ancient  author  was  reading  his  composition  aloud  to  Bent- 
ley,  but  making  stupid  mistakes  through  drowsiness  or  in- 
attention. Bentley  pulls  him  up  short ;  remonstrates  with 
him  in  a  vein  of  good-humoured  sarcasm  ;  points  out  to  him 
that  he  can  scarcely  mean  tliis^  but — as  his  own  words  else- 
where prove — must,  no  doubt,  have  meant  that ;  and  rec- 
ommends him  to  think  more  of  logic.  Sometimes  it  is  the 
modern  reader  whom  Bentley  addresses,  as  if  begging  him 
to  be  calm  in  the  face  of  some  tremendous  blunder  just 
committed  by  the  ancient  author,  who  is  intended  to  over- 
hear the  "  aside  " — "  Do  not  mind  him  ;  he  does  not  really 
mean  it.  He  is  like  this  sometimes,  and  makes  us  anx- 
ious; but  he  has  plenty  of  good-sense,  if  one  can  only  get 
at  it.  Let  us  see  what  we  can  do  for  him."  This  collo- 
quial manner,  with  its  alternating  appeals  to  author  and 
reader,  in  one  instance  exposed  Bentley  to  an  unmerited 
rebuke  from  Dr.  Monk.  Once,  after  triumphantly  show- 
ing that  John  of  Antioch  supposed  the  Boeotian  Aulis  to 


I.J  EARLY  LIFE.— THE  LETTER  TO  MILL.  17 

be  in  Scytliia,  Bentley  exclaims,  "  Good  indeed ,  Johnny !" 
(Eiigc  vcro,  w  'hoavvicior).  Dr.  Monk  thought  that  tliis 
was  said  to  Dr.  Jolin  Mill,  and  reproved  it  as  "an  indcco- 
rnin  which  neither  the  familiarity  of  friendship  nor  the 
license  of  a  dead  language  can  justify  towards  the  digni- 
fied Ucad  of  a  House."  Mr.  Machly,  in  a  memoir  of  Bent- 
ley,  rejoins:  "That  may  be  the  view  of  English  high  life; 
a  German  savant  would  never  have  been  offended  by  the 
expressions  in  question."  (Das  mag  Anschauung  des  eng- 
lischcn  hifjh  life  sein  :  eincm  deutschen  Gelehrtcn  wiirdon 
die  fragliehen  Ausdriicke  nic  aufgefallen  sein.)  But  our 
Aristarchus  was  not  addressing  the  Principal  of  St.  Ed- 
mund Hall ;  ho  was  sportively  upbraiding  the  ancient 
chroniclLT.  Indeed,  Monk's  slip — a  thing  most  rare  in  his 
work  —  was  pointed  out  in  a  review  of  his  first  edition, 
and  is  absent  from  the  second. 

Two  of  the  first  scholars  of  that  day — John  George 
Graevius  and  Ezechiel  Spanheim — separately  saluted  the 
young  author  of  the  Letter  to  Mill  as  "a  new  and  already 
bright  star"  of  English  letters.  But  the  Letter  to  Mill 
received  by  far  its  most  memorable  tribute,  years  after 
Bentlcy's  death,  from  David  Ruhnken,  in  his  preface  to 
the  Ilesychius  of  Alberti,  "Those  great  men,"  he  says — 
meaning  such  scholars  as  Scaliger,  Casaubon,  Saumaise — 
"did  not  dare  to  say  openly  what  they  thought  (about 
Ilesychius),  whether  deterred  by  the  established  repute 
of  the  grammarian,  or  by  the  clamours  of  the  half-learned, 
who  are  always  noisy  against  their  betters,  and  who  were 
uneasy  at  the  notion  of  the  great  Ilesychius  losing  his 
pre-eminence.  In  order  that  the  truth  should  be  publish- 
ed and  proved,  we  needed  the  learned  daring  of  Richard 
Bentley — daring  which  here,  if  anywhere,  served  literature 


18  BENTLEY.  [chap,  i, 

better  than  the  sluggish  and  credulous  superstition  of 
those  who  wish  to  be  called  and  deemed  critics.  Bentley 
shook  off  the  servile  yoke,  and  put  forth  that  famous  Let- 
ter to  Mill — a  wonderful  monument  of  genius  and  learn- 
ing, such  as  could  have  come  only  from  the  first  critic  of 
his  time." 


CHAPTER  IT. 

THE    BOYLE    LECTURES. 

Robert  Boyle,  born  in  tlic  year  after  Bacon's  death 
(102 7),  stands  next  to  him  among  the  Englishmen  of  the 
seventeenth  century  who  advanced  inductive  science.  His 
experiments — "  physico-meclianical,"  as  lie  describes  thera 
— led  to  the  discovery  of  the  law  for  the  elasticity  of  the 
air;  improvements  in  the  air-pump  and  the  thermometer 
were  due  to  him ;  and  his  investigations  were  serviceable 
to  Hydrostatics,  Chemistry,  and  Medicine.  In  his  theo- 
logical writings  it  was  his  chief  aim  to  show  "the  recon- 
cilableness  of  reason  and  religion,"  and  thus  to  combat  the 
most  powerful  prejudice  which  opposed  the  early  progress 
of  the  New  Philosophy.  Boyle's  mind,  like  Newton's,  be- 
came more  profoundly  reverent  the  further  he  penetrated 
into  the  secrets  of  nature;  his  innermost  feeling  appears 
to  be  well  represented  by  the  title  which  he  chose  for  one 
of  his  essays — "On  the  high  veneration  man's  intellect 
owes  to  God,  peculiarly  for  his  wisdom  and  power."  Thus 
his  "Disquisition  of  Final  Causes"  was  designed  to  prove, 
as  against  inferences  which  had  been  drawn  from  the  cos- 
mical  system  of  Descartes,  that  the  structure  of  the  uni- 
verse reveals  the  work  of  a  divine  intelligence.  Dying  on 
December  30,  1091,  he  left  a  bequest  which  was  in  har- 


20  BENTLEY,  [chap. 

mony  witli  the  main  purpose  of  his  life,  and  which  might 
be  regarded  as  his  personal  and  permanent  protest  against 
the  idea  that  a  servant  of  science  is  an  enemy  of  religion. 

He  assigned  fifty  pounds  a  year  as  a  stipend  "for  some 
divine,  or  preaching  minister,"  who  should  "  preach  eight 
Sermons  in  the  year  for  proving  the  Christian  religion 
against  notorious  infidels,  viz.  Atheists,  Deists,  Pagans, 
Jews,  and  Mahometans ;  not  descending  to  any  controversies 
that  are  among  Christians  themselves:  The  lectui'es  to  be 
on  the  first  Monday  of  the  respective  months  of  January, 
February,  March,  April,  May,  September,  October,  Novem- 
ber; in  such  church  as  the  trustees  shall  from  time  to  time 
appoint."  The  four  trustees  named  in  the  will — Bishop 
Tenison,  Sir  Henry  Ashurst,  Sir  John  Eotheram,  and  John 
Evelyn  (the  author  of  the  Sylva  and  the  Diary) — soon 
appointed  the  Lecturer  who  was  to  deliver  the  first  course. 
"  We  made  choice  of  one  Mr.  Bentley,"  says  Evelyn  — 
"  chaplain  to  the  Bishop  of  Worcester."  Bishop  Stil- 
lingfleet,  himself  so  eminent  an  apologist,  would  naturally 
be  consulted  in  such  an  election. 

Bentley  took  for  his  subject  the  first  of  the  topics 
indicated  by  the  founder — "A  confutation  of  Atheism." 
At  this  time  the  Leviathan  of  Thomas  Hobbes  had  been 
forty  years  before  the  world :  and  Bentley's  lectures  stand 
in  a  peculiar  relation  to  it,  Hobbes  resolved  all  ideas  into 
sensations ;  he  denied  that  there  was  "  any  common  rule 
of  good  and  evil,  to  be  taken  from  the  nature  of  the  ob- 
jects themselves."  He  did  not,  however,  deny  the  exist- 
ence of  a  God.  "  Curiosity  about  causes,"  says  Hobbes, 
"  led  men  to  search  out,  one  after  the  other,  till  they  came 
to  the  necessary  conclusion,  that  there  is  some  eternal 
cause  which  men  called  God.  But  they  have  no  more 
idea  of  his  nature  than  a  blind  man  has  of  fire,  though  he 


11.]  THE  BOYLE  LECTURES.  21 

knows  that  there  is  something  which  warms  hiin."  So 
clscwlicro  he  distinguislics  between  the  necessary  "  ac- 
knowlt'Jginent  of  one  infinite,  omnipotent,  and  eternal 
God,"  and  the  attempt — which  he  prononnces  delusive — 
to  define  the  nature  of  that  Being  "  by  spirit  incorporeal." 
Bcntley  held  with  those  who  regarded  Ilobbes,  not 
merely  as  a  materialist  who  destroyed  the  basis  of  mo- 
rality, but  as  an  atheist  in  the  disguise  of  a  deist.  Writ- 
ing to  Bernard,  Bcntley  says  roundly  of  Ilobbes,  "his 
corporeal  God  is  a  nicer  sham  to  get  his  book  printed." 
Ilobbes  had  said — not  in  the  Leviathan,  but  in  "  An  An- 
swer to  Bishop  Bramhall,"  who  had  pressed  him  on  this 
point — "  I  maintain  God's  existence,  and  that  he  is  a  most 
pure  and  most  simple  corjwrcal  spirit ;"  adding,  "  by  cor- 
poreal I  mean  a  substance  that  has  magnitude."  Else- 
where he  adds  ^'- invisible''^  before  "corporeal."  But  at 
this  time  the  suspicion  of  a  tendency  was  sometimes 
enough  to  provoke  the  charge  of  atheism :  thus  Cud- 
worth,  in  his  ''Intellectual  System  '* — published  fourteen 
years  before  Bentley's  lectures,  and,  like  them,  directed 
mainly  against  Hobbes — casts  the  imputation,  without  a 
shadow  of  reason,  on  Gassendi,  Descartes,  and  Bacon. 
Bcntley  declared  that  atheism  was  rife  in  "  taverns  and 
coffee-houses,  nay  "Westminster-hall  and  the  very  churches." 
The  school  of  Ilobbes,  he  was  firmly  persuaded,  was  an- 
swerable for  this.  "  There  may  be  some  Spinosists,  or 
immaterial  Fatalists,  beyond  seas,"  says  Bcntley ;  "  but 
not  one  English  infidel  in  a  hundred  is  any  other  than  a 
Ilobbist;  which  I  know  to  be  rank  atheism  in  the  private 
study  and  select  conversation  of  those  men,  whatever  it 
may  appear  abroad."  Bentley's  Lectures  are,  throughout, 
essentially  an  argument  against  Ilobbes.  The  set  of  the 
lecturer's  thoughts  may  be  seen  from  an  illustration  used 
2* 


22  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

in  his  second  discourse,  -where  he  is  arguing  against  a 
fortuitous  origin  of  the  universe.  "If  a  man  should  af- 
firm that  an  ape,  casually  meeting  with  pen,  ink,  and  paper, 
and  falling  to  scribble,  did  happen  to  write  exactly  the 
Leviathan  of  Thomas  Hobbes,  would  an  atheist  believe 
such  a  story  ?" 

It  was  from  the  pulpit  of  St.  Martin's  Church,  in  Lon- 
don, that  Bentley  delivered  his  Boyle  Lectures.  The  first 
was  given  on  March  7,  1692.  Bentley  announces  that  his 
refutation  of  atheists  will  not  be  drawn  from  those  sacred 
books  which,  in  their  eyes,  possess  no  special  authority ; 
"  but,  however,  there  are  other  books  extant,  which  they 
must  needs  allow  of  as  proper  evidence ;  even  the  mighty 
volumes  of  visible  nature,  and  the  everlasting  tables  of 
right  reason;  wherein,  if  they  do  not  wilfully  shut  their 
eyes,  they  may  read  their  own  folly  written  by  the  finger 
of  God,  in  a  much  plainer  and  more  terrible  sentence  than 
Belshazzar's  was  by  the  hand  upon  the  wall." 

In  choosing  this  ground  Bentley  was  following  a  recent 
example.  Richard  Cumberland,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Pe- 
terborough, had  published  in  1672  his  "  Philosophical  Dis- 
quisition on  the  Laws  of  Nature"  —  arguing,  against  the 
school  of  Ilobbes,  that  certain  immutable  principles  of 
moral  choice  are  inherent  in  the  nature  of  things  and  in 
the  mind  of  man.  He  purposely  refrains,  however,  from 
appealing  to  Scripture:  the  testimony  which  Cumberland 
invokes  is  that  of  recent  science,  mathematical  or  physio- 
logical— of  Descartes  and  Huygens,  of  Willis  or  Harvey. 
It  is  characteristic  of  Bentley  that  he  chose  to  draw  his 
weapons  from  the  same  armoury.  He  was  already  a  dis- 
ciple of  strictly  theological  learning.  But  in  this  field,  as 
in  others,  he  declined  to  use  authority  as  a  refuge  from 
loirical  encounter. 


11.]  THE  J50YLK  LECTURES.  28 

Bcntlcv's  first  Lecture  argues  that  to  adopt  atheism  is 
"  to  choose  death  and  evil  before  life  and  good  ;"  tliat  such 
folly  is  needless,  since  religion  imposes  nothing  repugnant 
to  man's  faculties  or  incredible  to  his  reason  ;  that  it  is 
also  hurtful,  both  to  the  individual,  whom  it  robs  of  the 
best  hope,  and  to  communities,  since  religion  is  the  basis 
of  society.  The  second  Lecture  proceeds  to  deduce  the 
existence  of  the  Deity  from  the  faculties  of  the  human 
soul.  Ilobbes  had  said  :  "  There  is  no  conception  in  a 
man's  mind  which  hath  not  at  first,  totally  or  by  parts, 
been  begotten  upon  the  organs  of  sense :  the  rest  are  de- 
rived from  that  original."  Bentley,  on  the  contrary,  un- 
dertakes to  prove  that  "the  powers  of  cogitation,  and 
volition,  and  sensation,  arc  neither  inherent  in  matter  as 
such,  nor  producible  in  matter;"  but  proceed  from  "some 
cogitative  substance,  some  incorporeal  inhabitant  within 
us,  which  we  call  spirit  and  soul."  As  the  result  of  the 
inquiry,  he  concludes  that  there  is  "  an  immaterial  and 
intelligent  Being,  that  created  our  souls ;  which  Being 
was  cither  eternal  itself,  or  created  immediately  or  ulti- 
mately by  some  other  Eternal,  that  has  all  those  perfec- 
tions. There  is,  therefore,  originally  an  eternal,  immate- 
rial, intelligent  Creator;  all  which  together  are  the  attri- 
butes of  God  alone."  Evelyn,  who  was  present  at  this 
Lecture,  writes  of  it  in  his  Diary  (April  4,  1G92) — "one 
of  the  most  learned  and  convincing  discourses  I  had  ever 
heard."  From  this  point  we  may  date  the  friendship 
which  till  his  death  in  1706  he  steadily  entertained  for 
Bentley.  The  third,  fourth  and  fifth  Lectures  urge  the 
same  inference  from  the  origin  and  structure  of  human 
bodies,  Bentley  seeks  to  prove  that  "the  human  race 
was  neither  from  everlasting  without  beginning ;  nor  owes 
its  beginning  to  the  influence  of  heavenly  bodies  ;  nor  to 


24  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

what  they  call  nature,  that  is,  the  necessary  and  mechan- 
ical motions  of  dead  senseless  matter."  His  style  of  ar- 
gument on  the  evidence  of  design  in  the  human  structure 
may  be  seen  from  this  passage  on  the  organism  of  the 
heart : 

"  If  we  consider  the  heart,  -which  is  supposed  to  be  the 
first  principle  of  motion  and  life,  and  divide  it  by  our  im- 
agination into  its  constituent  parts,  its  arteries,  and  veins, 
and  nerves,  and  tendons,  and  membranes,  and  innumera- 
ble little  fibres  that  these  secondary  parts  do  consist  of, 
we  shall  find  nothing  here  singular,  but  what  is  in  any 
other  muscle  of  the  body.  'Tis  only  the  site  and  posture 
of  these  several  parts,  and  the  configuration  of  the  whole, 
that  give  it  the  form  and  functions  of  a  heart.  Now, 
why  should  the  first  single  fibres  in  the  formation  of  the 
heart  be  peculiarly  drawn  in  spiral  lines,  when  the  fibres 
of  all  other  muscles  are  made  by  a  transverse  rectilinear 
motion?  What  could  determine  the  fluid  matter  into 
that  odd  and  singular  figure,  when  as  yet  no  other  member 
is  supposed  to  be  formed,  that  might  direct  the  course  of 
that  fluid  matter?  Let  mechanism  here  make  an  experi- 
ment of  Hs  power,  and  produce  a  spiral  and  turbinated 
motion  of  the  whole  moved  body  without  an  external 
director." 

The  last  three  Lectures  (vi.,  vii.,  viii.)  deal  with  the 
proofs  from  "  the  origin  and  frame  of  the  world."  These 
are  by  far  the  most  striking  of  the  series.  Newton's 
Principia  had  now  been  published  for  five  years.  But, 
beyond  the  inner  circle  of  scientific  students,  the  Carte- 
sian system  was  still  generally  received.  Descartes  taught 
that  eack  planet  was  carried  round  the  sun  in  a  separate 
vortex ;  and  that  the  satellites  are  likewise  carried  round 
by  smaller  vortices,  contained  within  those  of  the  several 


II.]  THE  BOYLE  LECirRES.  28 

planets.  Ccntrifuijal  motion  would  constantly  impel  tlie 
planets  to  fly  off  in  a  straiglit  line  from  the  sun  ;  but  tliey 
arc  kept  in  their  orbits  by  the  pressure  of  an  outer  sphere, 
consisting  of  denser  particles  which  are  beyond  the  action 
of  the  vortices. 

Newton  had  demolished  this  theory,  lie  had  shown 
that  the  planets  arc  held  in  their  orbits  by  the  force  of 
gravity,  which  is  always  drawing  them  towards  the  sun, 
combined  with  a  transverse  impulse,  which  is  always  pro- 
jecting them  at  tangents  to  their  orbits.  Bentlcy  takes 
up  Newton's  great  discovery,  and  applies  it  to  prove  the 
existence  of  an  Intelligent  Providence.  Let  us  grant,  he 
says,  that  the  force  of  gravity  is  inherent  to  matter.  What 
can  have  been  the  origin  of  that  other  force — the  trans- 
verse impulse  ?  This  impulse  is  not  uniform,  but  has  been 
adjusted  to  the  place  of  each  body  in  the  system.  Each 
planet  has  its  particular  velocity,  proportioned  to  its  dis- 
tance from  the  sun  and  to  the  quantity  of  the  solar  mat- 
ter. It  can  be  due  to  one  cause  alone — an  intelligent  and 
omnipotent  Creator. 

This  view  has  the  express  sanction  of  Newton.  His 
letters  to  Bentley  —  subsequent  in  date  to  the  Lectures 
— repeatedly  conflrra  it.  ''I  do  not  know  any  power  in 
nature,"  Newton  writes,  "  which  would  cause  this  trans- 
verse motion  without  the  divine  arm,"  ..."  To  make  this 
system,  with  all  its  motions,  required  a  cause  which  under- 
stood and  compared  together  the  quantities  of  matter  in 
the  several  bodies  of  the  sun  and  planets,  and  the  gravitat- 
ing powers  resnlting  from  thence;  the  several  distances  of 
the  primarv  planets  from  the  sun,  and  of  the  secondary 
ones  from  Saturn,  Jupiter,  and  the  Earth  ;  and  the  veloci- 
ties with  which  these  planets  could  revolve  about  those 
quantities  of  matter  in  the  central  bodies;  and  to  com' 


2G  BENTLEY.  [coap. 

pare  and  adjust  all  these  things  together,  in  so  great  a  va- 
riety of  bodies,  argues  that  cause  to  be,  not  blind  and  for- 
tuitous, but  very  well  skilled  in  mechanics  and  geometry." 

The  application  of  Newton's  discoveries  which  Bentley 
makes  in  the  Boyle  Lectures  was  peculiarly  welcome  to 
Newton  himself.  "  When  I  wrote  my  treatise  about  our 
system,"  he  says  to  Bentley,  "  I  had  an  eye  upon  such 
principles  as  might  work  with  considering  men  for  the 
belief  of  a  Deity ;  and  nothing  can  rejoice  me  more  than 
to  find  it  useful  for  that  purpose.  But  if  I  have  done 
the  public  any  service  this  way,  it  is  due  to  nothing  but 
industry  and  patient  thought." 

The  correspondence  between  Bentley  and  Newton,  to 
which  the  Boyle  Lectures  gave  rise,  would  alone  make 
them  memorable.  It  has  commonly  been  supposed  that 
Bentley  first  studied  the  Principia  with  a  view  to  these 
Lectures.  This,  as  I  can  prove,  is  an  error.  The  Library 
of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  contains  the  autographs  of 
Newton's  four  letters  to  Bentley,  and  of  his  directions  for 
reading  the  Principia  ;  also  a  letter  to  Wotton  from  John 
Craig,  a  Scottish  mathematician,  giving  advice  on  the  same 
subject,  for  Bentley's  benefit.  Now,  Craig's  letter  is  dated 
June  24,  1691 ;  Bentley,  then,  must  have  turned  his  mind 
to  the  Principia  six  months  before  the  Boyle  Lectures 
were  even  founded.  We  know,  further,  that  in  1689  he 
was  working  on  Lucretius.  I  should  conjecture,  then,  that 
his  first  object  in  studying  Newton's  cosmical  system  had 
been  to  compare  it  with  that  of  Epicurus,  as  interpreted 
by  Lucretius;  to  whom,  indeed,  he  refers  more  than  once 
in  the  Boyle  Lectures.  Craig  gives  an  alarming  list  of 
books  which  must  be  read  before  the  Principia  can  be 
understood,  and  represents  the  study  as  most  arduous. 
Newton's  own  directions  to  Bentley  are  simple  and  en- 


„,]  THE  BOYLE  LECTURES.  27 

conraf'inrj ;  "  at  y'^  first  perusal  of  my  Book,"  he  con- 
cliides,  "  it's  enough  if  you  understand  y*^  Propositions 
w"'  some  of  y*^  Demonstrations  w^''  are  easier  than  the 
rest.  For  when  you  understand  y**  easier,  tliey  will  after- 
wards give  you  light  into  y''  harder."  At  the  bottom  of 
the  paper  Bentley  has  written,  in  his  largest  and  bold- 
est character,  ^^  Directions  from  Mr.  Newton  hy  his  oivn 
Handy  There  is  no  date.  Clearly,  however,  it  was 
Craig's  formidable  letter  which  determined  Bentley  on 
writing  to  Newton.  The  rapidity  with  which  Bentley — 
amongst  all  his  other  pursuits — comprehended  the  Prin- 
cipia  proves  both  industry  and  power.  Some  years  later, 
his  Lectures  were  searched  for  flaws  by  John  Keill,  after- 
wards Savilian  Professor  of  Astronomy  at  Oxford,  and 
the  principal  agent  in  introducing  Newton's  system  there. 
The  Phalaris  controversy  was  going  on,  and  Keill  wished 
to  damage  Bentley,  But  he  could  tind  only  one  real  blot. 
Bentley  had  missed  Newton's  discovery — mentioned,  but 
not  prominent,  in  the  Principia — that  the  moon  revolves 
about  her  own  axis.  Keill's  only  other  point  was  a  verbal 
cavil,  refuted  by  the  context.  Better  testimony  to  Bent- 
ley's  accuracy  could  scarcely  have  been  borne. 

The  last  Lecture  was  given  on  December  5,  1G92.  The 
first  six  had  already  been  printed.  But  before  publishing 
the  last  two — which  dealt  in  more  detail  with  Newton's 
principles — Bentley  wished  to  consult  Newton  himself, 
lie  therefore  wrote  to  him,  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge. 
It  was  in  the  autumn  of  that  year  that  Newton  had  fin- 
ished his  Letters  on  Fluxions,  lie  was  somewhat  out  of 
liealtli,  suffering  from  sleeplessness  and  loss  of  appetite ; 
perhaps  (as  his  letters  to  Locke  suggest)  vexed  by  the  re- 
peated failure  of  bis  friends  to  obtain  for  him  such  a  pro- 
vision as  he  desired.     But  he  at  once  answered  Bcntley's 


28  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

letter  witli  that  concise  and  lucid  thoroughness  which 
makes  his  style  a  model  in  its  kind.  His  first  letter  is 
dated  Dec.  10,  1692,  and  addressed  to  Bentley  "at  the 
Bishop  of  Worcester's  House,  in  Park  Street  in  West- 
minster." On  the  back  of  it  Bentley  has  written  :  "  Mr 
Newton's  Answer  to  some  Queries  sent  by  me,  after  I  had 
preach't  my  2  last  Sermons ;  All  his  answers  are  agree- 
able to  what  I  had  deliver'd  before  in  the  pulpit.  But  of 
some  incidental  things  I  do  iwix^iy  [suspend  judgment]. 
R.  B."  Three  other  letters  are  extant  which  Newton  wrote 
at  this  time  to  Bentley — the  last  on  Feb.  25,  1693.  He 
probably  wrote  otliers  also ;  there  are  several  from  Bent- 
ley to  him  in  the  Portsmouth  collection. 

In  the  course  of  these  four  letters,  Newton  approves 
nearly  all  the  arguments  for  the  existence  of  God  which 
Bentley  had  deduced  from  the  Principia.  On  one  im- 
portant point,  however,  he  corrects  him.  Bentley  had 
conceded  to  the  atheists  that  gravity  may  be  essential  and 
inherent  to  matter.  "Pray,"  says  Newton,  "do  not  as- 
cribe that  notion  to  me ;  for  the  cause  of  gravity  is  what 
I  do  not  pretend  to  know,  and  therefore  would  take  more 
time  to  consider  of  it."  In  the  last  letter,  about  five 
weeks  later,  Newton  returns  to  this  topic,  and  speaks 
more  decidedly.  The  notion  of  gravity  being  inherent  to 
matter  "  is  to  me,"  he  says,  "  so  great  an  absurdity,  that 
I  believe  no  man,  who  has  in  philosophical  matters  any 
competent  faculty  of  thinking,  can  ever  fall  into  it. 
Gravity  must  be  caused  by  an  agent  acting  constantly 
according  to  certain  laws ;  but  whether  this  agent  be  ma- 
terial or  immaterial,  I  have  left  to  the  consideration  of 
my  readers." 

One  of  the  most  interesting  points  in  these  letters  is  to 
sec  how  a  mind  like  Bcntley's,  so  wonderfully  acute  in 


II.]  THE  BOYLE  LECTURES.  29 

certain  directions,  and  logical  in  criticism  even  to  excess, 
is  corrected  by  a  matlicniatical  mind.  Tims  Ijcntlev,  in 
writing  to  Xewton,  had  argued  that  every  particle  of  mat- 
ter in  an  infinite  space  has  an  infinite  quantity  of  matter 
on  all  sides,  and  consequently  an  infinite  attraction  every 
way ;  it  must  therefore  rest  in  equilibrium,  all  infinites 
being  equal.  Now,  says  Newton,  by  similar  reasoning  we 
might  prove  that  an  inch  is  equal  to  a  foot.  For,  if  an 
inch  may  be  divided  into  an  infinite  number  of  parts,  the 
sura  of  those  parts  will  be  an  inch ;  and  if  a  foot  may  be 
divided  into  an  infinite  number  of  parts,  the  sum  of  those 
parts  must  be  a  foot;  and  therefore,  since  all  infinites  arc 
equal,  those  sums  must  be  equal ;  that  is,  an  inch  must  be 
equal  to  a  foot.  The  logic  is  strict;  what,  then,  is  the 
error  in  the  premises?  The  position,  Newton  answers, 
that  all  infinites  arc  equal.  Infinites  may  be  considered 
in  two  ways.  Viewed  absolutely,  they  are  neither  equal 
nor  unequal.  But  when  considered  under  certain  definite 
restrictions,  as  mathematics  may  consider  them,  they  can 
be  compared.  "  A  mathematician  would  tell  you  that, 
though  there  be  an  infinite  number  of  infinite  little  parts 
in  an  inch,  yet  there  is  twelve  times  that  number  of  such 
parts  in  a  foot."  And  so  Bcntley's  infinite  attracting 
forces  must  be  so  conceived  as  if  the  addition  of  the 
slightest  finite  attracting  force  to  either  would  destroy 
the  equilibrium. 

Johnson  has  observed  that  these  letters  show  "  how 
even  the  mind  of  Newton  gains  ground  gradually  upon 
darkness :"  a  fine  remark,  but  one  which  will  convey  an 
incorrect  impression  if  it  is  supposed  to  mean  that  Bcnt- 
ley's questions  had  led  Newton  to  modify  or  extend  any 
doctrine  set  forth  in  the  Princij/ut.  Bcntley's  present 
object   in    using   the    Principia  was   to    refute   atheism. 


80  BENTLEY.  [cdap. 

Newton  liaci  not  previously  considered  all  the  possible 
applications  of  bis  own  discoveries  to  the  purposes  of  the- 
ological controversy.  This  is  the  limit  to  the  novelty 
of  suggestion  which  he  found  in  Bentley's  letters.  Be- 
sides the  few  cases  in  which  Newton  points  out  a  fallacy, 
there  are  others  in  which  he  puts  a  keener  edge  on  some 
argument  propounded  by  his  correspondent.  For  in- 
stance, Bcntley  had  submitted  some  reasons  against  "  the 
hypothesis  of  deriving  the  frame  of  the  world  by  mechan- 
ical principles  from  matter  evenly  spread  through  the 
heavens."  This  was  one  of  the  theories  which  sought  to 
eliminate  the  necessity  of  an  intelligent  cause.  It  was,  of 
course,  radically  incompatible  with  Newton's  system.  "  I 
had  considered  it  very  little,"  Newton  writes,  "before 
your  letters  put  me  upon  it."  But  then  he  goes  on  to 
point  out  how  it  may  be  turned  against  its  authors.  It 
involves  the  assumption  that  gravity  is  inherent  to  matter. 
But,  if  this  is  so,  then  matter  could  never  have  been  even- 
ly spread  through  the  heavens  without  the  intervention 
of  a  supernatural  power. 

Newton's  letters,  while  they  heighten  our  admiration 
for  the  master,  also  illustrate  the  great  ability  of  the  dis- 
ciple— his  strong  grasp  of  a  subject  which  lay  beyond  the 
sphere  of  his  familiar  studies,  and  his  vigorous  originality 
in  the  use  of  new  acquisitions,  Bentley's  Boyle  Lectures 
have  a  lasting  worth  which  is  independent  of  their  scien- 
tific value  as  an  argument.  In  regard  to  the  latter,  it  may 
be  observed  that  they  bear  the  mark  of  their  age  in  their 
limited  conception  of  a  natural  law  as  distinguished  from 
a  personal  agency.  Thus  gravitation  is  allowed  as  a  nat- 
ural "  law "  because  its  action  is  constant  and  uniform. 
But  wherever  there  is  a  more  and  a  less,  wherever  the  op- 
eration is  apparently  variable,  this  is  explained  by  the  in- 


II. J  TUH  JJOYLE  LECTURES.  31 

tervcnino'  will  of  an  iiitcUiijjcnt  person  ;  it  is  not  conceived 
that  the  disturbing;-  or  modifying  force  may  be  aiiotlier, 
though  unknown,  "  law,"  in  the  sense  in  whicli  that  name 
is  given  to  a  manifestly  regular  sequence  of  cause  and  ef- 
fect. On  their  literary  side,  the  best  parts  of  the  Lectures 
exhibit  Bcntlcy  as  a  born  controversialist,  and  the  worst 
as  a  born  litigant.  The  latter  character  appears  in  an  oc- 
casional tendency  to  hair-splitting  and  quibbling;  the  for- 
mer, in  his  sustained  power  of  terse  and  animated  reason- 
ing, in  rapid  thrust  and  alert  defence,  in  ready  command 
of  various  resources,  in  the  avoidance  of  declamation  while 
lie  is  proving  liis  pi)iiit,  and  in  the  judicious  use  of  elo- 
quence to  clinch  it.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  he  has  the  knack 
of  illustrating  an  abstruse  subject  by  an  image  from  com- 
mon things.  lie  is  touching  (in  the  second  Lecture)  on 
the  doctrine  of  Epicurus  that  our  freedom  of  will  is  due 
to  the  declension  of  atoms  from  the  perpendicular  as  they 
fall  through  infinite  space.  "'Tis  as  if  one  should  say 
that  a  bowl  equally  poised,  and  thrown  upon  a  plain  and 
smooth  bowling-green,  will  run  necessarily  and  fatally  in  a 
direct  motion ;  but  if  it  be  made  with  a  bias,  that  may  de- 
cline it  a  little  from  a  straiglit  line,  it  may  acquire  by  that 
motion  a  liberty  of  will,  and  so  run  spontaneously  to  the 
jack."  It  may  be  noticed  that  a  passage  in  the  eighth 
Lecture  is  one  of  the  quaintest  testimonies  in  literature  to 
the  comparatively  recent  origin  of  a  taste  for  the  grander 
forms  of  natural  scenery.  Bentley  supposes  his  adversa- 
ries to  object  that  "the  rugged  and  irregular  surface"  of 
the  earth  refutes  its  claim  to  be  "a  work  of  divine  artifice." 
"We  ought  not  to  believe,"  he  replies,  "that  the  banks  of 
the  ocean  are  really  deformed,  because  they  have  not  the 
form  of  a  regular  bulwark  ;  nor  that  the  mountains  are  out 
of  shape,  because  they  arc  not  exact  pyramids  or  cones." 


32  BENTLEY.  [cuap.  ii. 

The  Lectures  made  a  deep  and  wide  impression.  Soon 
after  they  had  been  published,  a  Latin  version  appeared 
at  Berlin.  A  Dutch  version  subsequently  came  out  at 
Utrecht.  There  was  one  instance,  indeed,  of  dissent  from 
the  general  approval.  A  Yorkshire  squire  wrote  a  pam- 
phlet, intimating  that  his  own  experience  did  not  lead  him 
to  consider  the  faculties  of  the  human  soul  as  a  decisive 
argument  for  tlic  existence  of  a  Deity ;  and,  referring  to 
Bentley's  observations  on  this  head,  he  remarked,  "  I  judge 
he  hath  taken  the  wrong  sow  by  the  ear."  In  1694 
Bentley  again  delivered  a  course  of  Boyle  Lectures — "  A 
Defence  of  Christianity" — but  they  were  never  printed. 
Manuscript  copies  of  them  are  mentioned  by  Kippis,  the 
editor  of  the  Biographia  Britannica  (1780);  but  Dean 
Vincent,  who  died  in  1815,  is  reported  by  Kidd  as  believ- 
ing that  they  were  lost. 


CHAPTER  HI. 

LEARNED    CORRESPONDENCE. THE    KINo's    LIDRARIAN. 

In  1692 — the  year  of  his  first  Boyle  Lecturership — .in  ac- 
cident placed  Beutlcy  in  correspondence  with  John  George 
Graevius,  a  Gorman  who  held  a  professorship  at  Utrecht, 
and  stood  in  the  front  rank  of  classical — especially  Latin 
— scholarship.  "When  Bentlcy  was  seeking  materials  for 
an  edition  of  Manilius,  he  received  a  box  of  papers  from 
Sir  Edward  Shcrburn,  an  old  Cavalier  who  had  partly  trans- 
lated the  poet.  The  papers  in  the  box,  bought  at  Ant- 
werp, had  belonged  to  the  Dutch  scholar,  Gaspar  Geviirts. 
Amongst  them  was  a  Latin  tract  by  Albert  Rubens  ("  Ru- 
benius,")  the  author  of  another  treatise  which  Graevius 
had  previously  edited.  Eentley,  with  Sherburn's  leave, 
sent  the  newly-found  tract  to  Graevius,  who  published  it 
in  1694,  with  a  dedication  to  Bentley.  This  circumstance 
afterwards  brought  on  Bentley  the  absurd  charge  of  hav- 
ing intercepted  an  honour  due  to  Shcrburn. 

Graevius  was  rejoiced  to  open  a  correspondence  with 
the  author  of  the  Letter  to  Mill,  which  he  bad  warmly 
admired.  The  professor's  son  had  lately  died,  leaving  an 
unpublished  edition  of  the  Greek  poet  Callimachus,  which 
Graevius  was  now  preparing  to  edit.  lie  applied  to  Bent- 
ley for  any  literary  aid   that   he  could  give.      In   reply. 


84  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

Bentley  undertook  to  collect  the  fragments  of  Calliraa- 
chus,  scattered  up  and  down  throughout  Greek  literature ; 
remarking  that  he  could  promise  to  double  the  number 
printed  in  a  recent  Paris  edition,  and  also  to  improve  the 
text.  In  1696  Bentley  fulfilled  this  promise  by  sending 
to  Graevius  a  collection  of  about  420  fragments ;  also  a 
new  recension  of  the  poet's  epigrams,  with  additions  to 
their  number  from  a  fresh  manuscript  source,  and  with 
some  notes  on  the  hymns.  The  edition  appeared  at 
Utrecht  in  1697,  with  Bentley's  contributions. 

In  the  preface  Graevius  shows  his  sense  that  the  work 
done  by  Bentley — "  that  new  and  brilliant  light  of  Brit- 
ain " — was  not  merely  excellent  in  quality,  but  of  a  new 
order.  Such  indeed  it  was.  Since  then,  successive  gen- 
erations have  laboured  at  collecting  and  sifting  the  frag- 
ments of  the  Greek  poets.  But  in  1697  the  world  had 
no  example  of  systematic  work  in  this  field.  The  first 
pattern  of  thorough  treatment  and  the  first  model  of  crit- 
ical method  were  furnished  by  Bentley's  Callimachus. 
Hitherto  the  collector  of  fragments  had  aimed  at  little 
more  than  heaping  together  "  the  limbs  of  the  dismem- 
bered poet."  Bentley  shows  how  these  limbs,  Avhen  they 
have  been  gathered,  may  serve,  within  certain  limits,  to  re- 
construct the  body.  Stai'ting  from  a  list  of  the  poet's 
works,  extant  or  known  by  title,  he  aims  at  arranging  the 
fragments  under  those  works  to  which  they  severally  be- 
longed. But,  while  he  concentrates  his  critical  resources 
in  a  methodical  manner,  he  wisely  refrains  from  pushing 
conjecture  too  far.  His  Callimachus  is  hardly  more  dis- 
tinguished by  brilliancy  than  by  cautious  judgment — praise 
which  could  not  be  given  to  all  his  later  works.  Here,  as 
in  the  Letter  to  Mill,  we  sec  his  metrical  studies  bearing 
fruit :  thus  he  points  out  a  fact  which  had  hitherto  es- 


in]  LEARNED  CORRESPONDENCE.  35 

capcd  even  such  scholars  as  Sauniaisc  and  Casaubon — 
that  tlie  Greek  diphthongs  at  and  oi  cannot  be  shortened 
before  consonants.  Ernesti,  in  the  preface  to  his  CaUima- 
chus  (1763),  speaks  of  Bcntley  as  "having  distanced  com- 
petition :"  and  another  estimate,  of  yet  higher  authority, 
is  expressed  more  strongly  still.  "  Nothing  more  e.vcel- 
lent  in  its  kind  has  appeared,"  said  Valckenacr — "  nothing 
more  highly  finished;"  "a  most  thorough  piece  of  work, 
by  which  writers  who  respect  their  readers  might  well  bo 
deterred"  from  an  attempt  at  rivalry.  It  is  no  real  abate- 
ment of  Bentley's  desert  that  a  few  gleanings  were  left  for 
those  who  came  after  him.  Here,  as  in  some  other  cases, 
the  distinctive  merit  of  his  work  is  not  that  it  was  final, 
but  that  it  was  exemplary.  In  this  particular  department 
— the  editing  of  fragments — he  differed  from  his  predeces- 
sors as  the  numismatist,  who  arranges  a  cabinet  of  coins, 
differs  from  the  digger  who  is  only  aware  that  he  has  un- 
earthed an  old  bit  of  gold  or  silver. 

Meanwhile  letters  bad  been  passing  between  Bentley  and 
a  correspondent  very  unlike  Graevius.  In  1693  Joshua 
Barnes,  of  Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge,  was  editing  Eu- 
ripides, and  wrote  to  Bentley,  asking  his  reasons  for  an 
opinion  attributed  to  him — that  the  "  Letters  of  Euripi- 
des "  were  spurious.  Bentley  gave  these  reasons  in  a  long 
and  courteous  reply.  Barnes,  however,  resented  the  loss 
of  a  cherished  illusion.  Not  only  did  he  omit  to  thank 
Bentley,  but  in  the  preface  to  his  Euripides  (1694)  he  al- 
luded to  his  correspondent's  opinion  as  "  a  proof  of  ef- 
frontery or  incapacity."  Barnes  is  a  curious  figure,  half 
comic,  half  pathetic,  amongst  the  minor  persons  of  Bent- 
ley's  story.  Widely  read,  incessantly  laborious,  but  un- 
critical and  vain,  ho  poured  forth  a  continual  stream  of 
injudicious  publications,  English  or  Greek,  until,  when  ho 


36  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

was  fifty-one,  they  numbered  forty-three.  The  last  work 
of  his  hfe  was  an  elaborate  edition  of  Homer.  He  had 
invested  the  fortune  of  Mrs.  Barnes  in  this  costly  enter- 
prise, obtaining  her  somewhat  reluctant  consent,  it  was 
said,  by  representing  the  "  Iliad"  as  the  work  of  King  Sol- 
omon. Queen  Anne  declined  the  dedication,  and  nothing 
could  persuade  poor  Barnes  that  this  was  not  Bentley's 
doing.  Bentley  said  of  Barnes  that  he  probably  knew 
about  as  much  Greek,  and  understood  it  about  as  well,  as 
an  Athenian  blacksmith.  The  great  critic  appeal's  to  have 
forgotten  that  Sophocles  and  Aristophanes  were  appre- 
ciated by  audiences  which  represented  the  pit  and  the 
gallery  much  more  largely  than  the  boxes  and  the  stalls. 
An  Athenian  blacksmith  could  teach  us  a  good  many  things. 
Bentley  had  now  made  his  mark,  and  he  had  powerful 
friends.  One  piece  of  preferment  after  another  came  to 
him.  In  1692  Bishop  Stillingfleet  procured  for  him  a 
prebendal  stall  at  Worcester,  and  three  years  later  appoint- 
ed him  to  hold  the  Rectory  of  Hartlebury,  in  that  county, 
until  James  Stillingfleet  should  be  in  full  orders.  At  the 
end  of  the  year  1693  the  office  of  Royal  Librarian  became 
vacant.  By  an  arrangement  which  was  not  then  thought 
singular,  the  new  Librarian  was  induced  to  resign  in  fa- 
vour of  Bentley,  who  was  to  pay  him  £130  a  year  out  of 
the  salary  of  £200.  The  patent  appointing  Bentley  Keep- 
er of  the  Royal  Libraries  bore  date  April  12,  1694.  The 
"Licensing  Act"  (Stat.  13  and  14,  Car.  II.)  finally  expired 
in  1694,  a  few  months  after  Bentley  took  office.  But  he 
made  the  most  of  his  time.  The  Act  reserved  three  copies 
of  every  book  printed  in  England — one  for  the  Royal  Li- 
brary, one  for  Oxford,  and  one  for  Cambridge.  Latterly 
it  had  been  evaded.  Bentley  applied  to  the  Master  of  the 
Stationers'  Company,  and  exacted  "  near  a  thousand  "  vol- 


III.]  I,I:AUN1:I)  rORUESrONDEN'CE.  87 

umcs.  In  this  year  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal 
Society.  In  1G95  he  became  a  Chaplain  in  ordinary  to 
the  King.  Hitherto  ho  had  resided  with  Lishop  Stilling- 
flect ;  but  early  in  1G9G  he  took  possession  of  the  rooms 
in  St.  James's  Palace  which  were  assigned  to  the  Royal 
Librarian. 

One  of  his  letters  to  Evelyn — whom  he  had  been  help- 
ing to  revise  his  Humismata,  a  "Discourse  on  Medals,  an- 
cient and  modern" — discloses  an  amusing  incident.  Bent- 
ley's  lodgings  at  St.  James's  were  next  the  Earl  of  Marl- 
borough's. Bcntley  wished  to  annex  some  rooms  overhead, 
for  the  better  bestowal  of  certain  rare  books.  Marlborough 
undertook  to  plead  his  cause.  The  result  of  this  obliging 
diplomacy  was  that  the  future  hero  of  Blenheim  got  "the 
closets"  for  himself.  Bentley  now  became  anxious  to 
build  a  new  library,  and  Evelyn  warmly  sympathises  with 
his  "glorious  enterprise."  It  was,  indeed,  much  needed. 
The  books  were  so  ill-lodged  that  they  could  not  be  prop- 
erly arranged  ;  Bentley  declared  that  the  library  was  "  not 
fit  to  be  seen ;"  and  he  kept  its  chief  treasure,  the  Alex- 
andrine MS.  of  the  Greek  Bible,  at  his  own  rooms  in  the 
palace,  "  for  this  very  reason,  that  persons  might  sec  it 
without  seeing  the  library."  The  Treasury  consented  to 
the  proposal  for  building.  But  public  business  prevented 
the  bill  coming  before  Parliament,  and  the  scheme  was 
dropped  for  the  time.  Meanwhile  Bentley's  energy  found 
scope  at  Cambridge.  Since  the  civil  troubles,  the  Univer- 
sity Press  had  lapsed  into  a  state  which  called  for  repara- 
tion. Bentley  took  an  active  part  in  procuring  subscrip- 
tions for  that  purpose.  lie  was  empowered  by  the  Uni- 
versity to  order  new  founts  of  type,  which  were  cast  in 
Ilolland.  Evelyn,  in  his  Diary  (Aug.  IV,  1G96),  alludes 
to  "  that  noble  prcssc  which  my  worthy  and  most  learned 
3 


38  BENTLEY.  [chap.  hi. 

friend  ...  is  with  greate  charge  and  industrie  erecting 
now  at  Cambridge."  In  the  same  year  Bentley  took 
the  degree  of  Doctor  in  Divinity.  On  Comraencement 
Sunday  (July  5,  1696)  he  preached  before  the  University, 
taking  as  his  text  1  Pet.  iii.  15.  The  sermon,  which  is  ex- 
tant, defends  Christianity  against  deism. 

It  is  natural  to  ask — was  Bentley  yet  remarked  for  any 
of  those  qualities  which  form  the  harsher  side  of  his  char- 
acter in  later  life  ?  He  was  now  thirty-four.  There  is  the 
story  of  the  dinner-party  at  Bishop  Stillingfleet's,  at  which 
the  guest,  who  had  been  sitting  next  Bentley,  said  to  the 
Bishop  after  dinner,  "  My  Lord,  that  chaplain  of  yours  is 
certainly  a  very  extraordinary  man."  (Mr.  Bentley,  like 
the  chaplain  in  "  Esmond,"  had  doubtless  conformed  to  the 
usage  of  the  time,  and  retired  when  the  custards  appeared.) 
"  Yes,"  said  Stillingfleet,  "  had  he  but  the  gift  of  humility, 
he  would  be  the  most  extraordinary  man  in  Europe."  If 
this  has  a  certain  flavour  of  concoction,  at  any  rate  there 
is  no  doubt  as  to  what  Pepys  wrote,  after  reading  Boyle's 
allusion  to  Bentley's  supposed  discourtesy.  "  I  suspect 
Mr.  Boyle  is  in  the  right ;  for  our  friend's  learning  (which 
I  have  a  great  value  for)  wants  a  little  filing."  Against 
such  hints  there  is  a  noteworthy  fact  to  be  set.  A  letter 
of  Bentley's  to  Evelyn,  dated  Oct.  21,  1697,  mentions  that 
a  small  group  of  friends  had  arranged  to  meet  in  the  even- 
ings, once  or  twice  a  week,  at  Bentley's  lodgings  in  St. 
James's.  These  are  the  names :  John  Evelyn,  Sir  Christo- 
pher Wren,  John  Locke,  Isaac  Newton,  A  person  with 
whom  such  men  chose  to  place  themselves  in  frequent  and 
familiar  intercourse  must  have  been  distinguished  by  some- 
thing else  than  insolent  erudition.  But  now  we  must  see 
how  Bentley  bore  himself  in  the  first  great  crisis  of  his 
career. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    CON'TROVERSY    OX    THE    LETTERS    OF    PIIALARIS. 

William  Wottox's  Reflections  on  Ancient  and  Modern 
Learning  (1G94)  give  the  best  view  of  a  discussion  which 
greatly  exercised  the  wits  of  the  day.  "  Soon  after  the 
Restauration  of  King  Charles  II.,"  says  Wotton,  "  upon 
the  institution  of  the  Royal  Society,  the  comparative  ex- 
cellency of  the  Old  and  New  Philosophy  was  eagerly 
debated  in  England.  But  the  disputes  then  managed  be- 
tween Stubbe  and  Glanvile  were  rather  particular,  relating 
to  the  Royal  Society,  than  general,  relating  to  knowledge 
in  its  utmost  extent.  In  France  this  controversy  has  been 
taken  up  more  at  large.  The  French  were  not  content  to 
argue  the  point  in  Philosophy  and  Mathcmaticks,  but  even 
in  Poetry  and  Oratory  too ;  where  the  Ancients  had  the 
general  opinion  of  the  learned  on  their  side.  Monsieur  do 
Fontcnclle,  the  celebrated  author  of  a  Book  concerning  the 
Plurality  of  Worlds,  began  the  dispute  about  six  years  ago 
[1G88],  in  a  little  Discourse  annexed  to  the  Pastorals.'''' 

Porrault,  going  further  still  than  Fontcnelle,  "  in  oratory 
sets  the  Bishop  of  Meaux  [Bossuet]  against  Pericles  (or 
rather  Thucydidcs),  the  Bishop  of  Xismes  [FJechier]  against 
Isocratcs,  F.  Bourdaloue  against  Lysias,  Monsieur  Voiture 
against  Pliny,  and  Monsieur  Balzac  against  Cicero.     In 


40  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

Poetry  likewise  lie  sets  Monsieur  Boileau  against  Horace, 
Monsieur  Corneille  and  Monsieur  Moliere  against  the  An- 
cient Dramatic  Poets." 

Sir  William  Temple,  in  his  ''Essay  on  Ancient  and 
Modern  Learning" — published  in  1692,  and  dedicated  to 
las  own  University,  Almoe  Matri  Cantabrigiensi — was  not 
less  uncompromising  in  the  opposite  direction.  His  gen- 
eral view  is  that  the  Ancients  surpassed  the  Moderns,  not 
merely  in  art  and  literature,  but  also  in  every  branch  of 
science,  though  the  records  of  their  science  have  perished. 
"The  Moderns,"  Temple  adds,  "gather  all  their  learning 
out  of  Books  in  the  Universities."  The  Ancients,  on  the 
contrary,  travelled  with  a  view  to  original  research,  and 
advanced  the  limits  of  knowledge  in  their  subjects  by  per- 
sistent interviews  with  reserved  specialists  in  foreign  parts. 
Thales  and  Pythagoras  are  Sir  William's  models  in  this 
way.  "Thales  acquired  bis  knowledge  in  Egypt,  Phoe- 
nicia, Delphos,  and  Crete ;  Pythagoras  spent  twenty-two 
years  in  Egypt,  and  twelve  years  more  in  Chaldaea ;  and 
then  returned  laden  with  all  their  stores."  Temple's  per- 
formance was  translated  into  French,  and  made  quite  a 
sensation  in  the  Academy — receiving,  amongst  other  trib- 
utes, the  disinterested  homage  of  the  Modern  Horace. 

Wotton's  object  was  to  act  as  a  mediator,  and  "  give  to 
every  side  its  just  due."  As  to  "  eloquence  and  poetry," 
it  required  some  courage  (in  England)  even  to  hint  that 
the  Moderns  had  beaten  the  Ancients.  "  It  is  almost  a 
hercsie  in  wit,  among  our  poets,  to  set  up  any  modern 
name  against  Homer  or  Virgil,  Horace  or  Terence.  So 
that  though  here  and  there  one  should  in  Discourse  prefer 
the  writers  of  the  present  age,  yet  scarce  any  man  among 
us,  who  sets  a  value  upon  his  own  reputation,  will  venture 
to  assert  it  in  print."     With  regard  to  science,  however, 


IV.]  THE  LETTERS  OF  niAI.ArtlS.  41 

Wotton  speaks  out,  and  in  a  gentle  way  disposes  of  the 
Ancients.  He  may,  in  fact,  claim  the  credit  of  having 
made  a  sensible  contribution  to  the  discussion.  Sir  Wil- 
liam Temple,  "  the  ornament  of  the  age,"  was  no  mean 
antagonist.  Wutton  must  have  been  glad  of  a  trusty  ally, 
especially  on  the  ground  of  ancient  literature,  the  strongest 
part  of  the  enemy's  position.  Such  an  ally  he  found  in 
Bentley.     Temple  had  written  thus : 

"  It  may  perhaps  be  further  affirmed,  in  favour  of  the 
Ancients,  that  the  oldest  books  we  have  arc  still  in  their 
kind  the  best.  The  two  most  ancient  that  I  know  of  in 
prose,  among  those  wc  call  profane  authors,  arc  yEsop's 
Fables  and  IMialaris's  Epistles,  both  living  near  the  same 
time,  which  was  that  of  Cyrus  and  Pythagoras.  As  the 
first  has  been  agreed  by  all  ages  since  for  the  greatest  mas- 
ter in  his  kind,  and  all  others  of  that  sort  have  been  but 
imitations  of  his  original ;  so  I  think  the  Epistles  of  Phal- 
aris  to  have  more  race,  more  spirit,  more  force  of  wit  and 
genius,  than  any  others  I  have  ever  seen,  either  ancient  or 
modern.  I  know  several  learned  men  (or  that  usually  pass 
for  such,  under  the  name  of  critics)  have  not  esteemed 
them  genuine;  and  I'olitian,  with  some  others,  have  attril>- 
uted  them  to  Lucian :  but  I  think  he  must  have  little 
skill  in  painting  that  cannot  find  out  this  to  be  an  original. 
Such  diversity  of  passions,  upon  such  variety  of  actions 
and  passages  of  life  and  government;  sucli  freedom  of 
thought,  such  boldness  of  expression ;  such  bounty  to  his 
friends,  such  scorn  of  his  enemies;  such  honour  of  learned 
men,  such  esteem  of  good;  such  knowledge  of  life,  such 
contempt  of  death ;  with  such  fierceness  of  nature  and 
cruelty  of  revenge,  could  never  be  represented  but  by  him 
that  possessed  them.  And  I  esteem  Lucian  to  have  been 
no  more  capable  of  writing  than  of  acting  what  Phalaris 


42  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

did.  In  all  one  writ  you  find  the  scholar  or  the  sophist ; 
in  all  the  other,  the  tyrant  and  the  commander." 

Mutual  admiration  and  modern  journalism  have  seldom 
produced  a  more  magnificent  advertisement  than  Sir  Wil- 
liam Temple  had  given  to  this  ancient  writer.  After  the 
slumber,  or  the  doze,  of  centuries,  Phalaris  awoke  and 
found  himself  in  demand.  The  booksellers  began  to  feel 
an  interest  in  him  such  as  they  liad  never  even  simulated 
before. 

The  "Epistles  of  Phalaris"  are  a  collection  of  a  hun- 
dred and  forty-eight  letters — many  of  them  only  a  few 
lines  long — written  in  "Attic"  Greek  of  that  artificial 
kind  which  begins  to  appear  about  the  time  of  Augustus. 
They  are  first  mentioned  by  a  Greek  writer,  Stobscus,  who 
flourished  about  480  a.d.  We  know  nothing  about  the 
exact  time  at  which  they  were  written.  On  the  other 
hand  there  is  no  doubt  as  to  the  class  of  literature  which 
they  represent,  or  the  general  limits  of  the  period  to  which 
they  must  be  assigned.  These  limits  are  roughly  marked 
by  the  first  five  centuries  of  the  Christian  era. 

Phalaris,  the  reputed  author  of  the  Letters,  is  a  shadowy 
figure  in  the  early  legends  of  ancient  Sicily.  The  modern 
Girgenti,  on  the  south-west  coast  of  the  island,  preserves 
the  name  of  Agrigentum,  as  the  Romans  called  the  Greek 
city  of  Akragas.  Founded  early  in  the  sixth  century  be- 
fore Christ  by  a  Dorian  colony  from  Gela,  Akragas  stood 
on  the  spacious  terraces  of  a  lofty  hill.  It  was  a  splendid 
natural  stronghold.  Steep  cliffs  wer'e  the  city's  bulwarks 
on  the  south;  on  the  north,  a  craggy  ridge  formed  a  ram- 
part behind  it,  and  the  temple-crowned  citadel,  a  precipitous 
rock,  towered  to  a  height  of  twelve  hundred  feet  above  the 
sea.  Story  told  that  Phalaris,  a  citizen  of  Akragas,  had 
contrived  to  seize  the  citadel,  and  to  make  himself  abso- 


IV.]  THE  LETTERS  OF  IMIALARIS.  48 

Intc  ruler  of  the  place — in  Greek  phrase,  "tyrant."  IIo 
strengtlicncd  the  city — then  recently  founded — and  was 
successful  in  wars  upon  his  neighbours.  At  last  his  own 
subjects  rose  against  him,  overthrew  his  power,  and  put 
him  to  death.  This  latter  event  is  said  to  have  occurred 
between  5G0  and  550  b.c.  Such  was  the  tradition.  All 
that  wo  really  know  about  Phalaris,  however,  is  that  as 
early  as  about  500  b.c.  his  name  had  become  a  proverb 
for  horrible  cruelty,  not  only  in  Sicily,  but  throughout 
Ilcllas.  Pindar  refers  to  this  in  his  first  Pythian  ode  (474: 
B.C.) :  "  the  kindly  worth  of  Croesus  fades  not ;  but  in 
every  land  hate  follows  the  name  of  him  who  burned  vien 
in  a  brazen  bull,  the  ruthless  Phalaris.''^ 

This  habit  of  slowly  roasting  objectionable  persons  in 
a  brazen  bull  was  the  only  definite  trait  which  the  Greeks 
of  the  classical  age  associated  with  I'halaris.  And  this 
is  the  single  fact  on  which  Lucian  founds  his  amusing 
piece,  in  which  envoys  from  Phalaris  offer  the  bull  to  the 
temple  of  Delphi,  and  a  Delphian  casuist  urges  that  it 
ought  to  be  accepted.  The  bull  may  be  seen,  portrayed 
by  the  fancy  of  a  modern  artist,  in  the  frontispiece  to 
Charles  Boyle's  edition  of  the  Letters.  The  head  of  the 
brazen  animal  is  uplifted,  as  if  it  was  bellowing;  one  of 
the  tyrant's  apparitors  is  holding  up  the  lid  of  a  large  ob- 
long aperture  in  the  bull's  left  flank ;  two  others  are  hus- 
tling in  a  wretched  man,  who  has  already  disappeared,  all 
but  his  legs.  The  two  servants  wear  the  peculiar  expres- 
sion of  countenance  which  may  be  seen  on  the  faces  of 
persons  engaged  in  packing;  meanwhile  another  pair  of 
slaves,  with  more  animated  features,  arc  arranging  the 
fagots  under  the  bull,  which  arc  already  beginning  to 
blaze  cheerfully,  so  that  a  gentle  warmth  must  be  felt  on 
the.  inner  surface  of  the  brass,  though  it  will  probably  be 


44  BENTLET.  [chap. 

some  minutes  yet  before  it  begin  to  be  uncomfortable. 
Phalaris  is  seated  on  his  throne  just  behind  the  bull,  in  a 
sort  of  undress  uniform,  with  a  long  round  ruler  for  scep- 
tre in  his  right  hand ;  firmness  and  mildness  are  so  blend- 
ed in  his  aspect  that  it  is  impossible  not  to  feel  in  the 
presence  of  a  great  and  good  uian ;  on  the  left  side  of  the 
throne,  a  Polonius  is  standing  a  little  in  the  background, 
with  a  look  of  lively  edification  subdued  by  deference ; 
and  in  the  distance  there  is  a  view  of  hills  and  snug  farm- 
houses, suggesting  fair  rents  and  fixity  of  tenure. 

The  rather  hazy  outlines  of  the  old  Greek  tradition  are 
filled  up  by  Phalaris  himself  in  the  Letters,  which  abound 
with  little  bits  of  autobiography.  He  gives  us  to  know 
that  he  was  born — not  at  Agrigentum,  as  Lucian  has  it — 
but  at  a  place  called  Astypalaja,  seemingly  a  town  in 
Crete.  He  got  into  trouble  there  at  an  early  age,  being 
suspected  of  aiming  at  a  tyranny,  and  was  banished,  leav- 
ing his  wife  and  son  behind  him  ;  when  he  betook  him- 
self to  Agrigentum,  and  there  became  a  farmer  of  taxes ; 
obtained  the  management  of  a  contract  for  building  a 
temple  on  the  rocky  height  above  the  town  ;  hired  troops 
with  the  funds  thus  committed  to  him  ;  and  so  made  him- 
self master  of  the  place.  Some  of  the  letters  are  to  his 
wife,  his  son,  and  a  few  of  his  particular  friends,  among 
whom  is  the  poet  Stesichorus.  One  or  two  epistles  are 
addressed  to  distinguished  strangers,  begging  them  to 
come  and  see  him  in  Sicily — as  to  Pythagoras,  and  Abaris 
the  Hyperborean ;  and,  what  is  very  curious,  the  collec- 
tion gives  us  the  answer  sent  by  Abaris,  which  refers  not 
obscurely  to  the  bull,  and  declines  the  invitation  of  the 
prince  in  language  more  forcible  than  polite.  Then  there 
are  a  few  letters  to  various  communities — the  people  of 
Messene,  the  people  of  Tauromenion,  and  others. 


IV.]  Till-:  i.KTTFiiis  or  riiAf-uns.  45 

It  may  be  well  to  give  a  short  specimen  or  two.  Not 
a  few  of  tlie  Letters,  it  should  be  pix-misetl,  are  pervaded 
by  a  strain  of  alhision  to  the  bull.  Phalaris  was  a  person 
of  almost  morbid  sensibility,  and  if  there  was  one  subject 
on  which  he  was  more  alive  to  innuendo  than  another  it 
was  this  of  the  bull,  and  the  want  of  regard  for  the  feel- 
ings of  others  which  his  use  of  it  had  been  thouglit  to 
imply.  There  are  moments  when  he  can  no  longer  suffer 
in  silence,  but  comes  to  the  point,  as  in  the  following  let- 
ter to  the  Athenians  [Ep.  122  =  5  (Lcnncp)]: 

"  Your  artist  Perilaus,  Athenians,  came  to  n^c  with 
some  works  of  very  satisfactory  execution ;  on  account 
of  which  wo  gladly  received  him,  and  requited  him  with 
worthy  gifts,  for  the  sake  of  his  art,  and  more  particu- 
larly for  the  sake  of  his  native  city.  Not  long  since, 
however,  he  made  a  brazen  bull  of  more  than  natural  size, 
and  brought  it  to  Akragas.  Now  we  were  delighted  to 
welcome  an  animal  whose  labours  are  associated  with 
those  of  man ;  the  effigy  appeared  a  most  proper  gift  to 
a  prince — a  noble  object  of  art ;  for  he  had  not  yet  dis- 
closed to  us  the  death  which  lurked  within.  But  when 
be  opened  a  door  in  the  flank,  and  laid  bare 

'Murder  fulfilled  of  perfect  cruelty, 
A  fate  more  dire  than  all  imagined  death,' 

then,  indeed,  after  praising  him  for  his  skill,  we  proceeded 
to  punish  him  for  his  inhumanity.  "\Vc  resolved  to  make 
him  the  first  illustration  of  his  own  device,  since  we  bad 
never  met  with  a  worse  villain  than  its  contriver.  So  we 
put  him  into  the  bull,  and  lit  the  fire  about  it,  according 
to  his  own  directions  for  the  burning.  Cruel  was  his  sci- 
ence ;  stern  the  proof  to  which  he  brought  it.  We  did 
not  see  the  sufferer;  wc  heard  not  his  cries  or  lamcota- 


46  BENTLEY.  [chap, 

tions ;  for  the  buman  shrieks  that  resounded  within  came 
forth  to  his  listening  punishers  as  the  bellowings  of  a  bra- 
zen throat. 

"Now,  Athenians,  when  I  was  informed  that  you  re- 
sented the  removal  of  your  artist,  and  were  incensed  with 
me,  I  felt  surprise ;  and  for  the  present  I  am  unable  to 
credit  the  report.  If  you  censure  me  on  the  ground  that 
I  did  not  torment  him  by  a  more  cruel  mode  of  death, 
I  reply  that  no  mode  more  cruel  has  yet  occurred  to  me ; 
if,  on  the  other  hand,  you  blame  me  for  having  pun- 
ished him  at  all,  then  your  city,  which  glories  in  its  hu- 
manity, courts  the  charge  of  extreme  barbarity.  The 
bull  was  the  work  of  one  Athenian,  or  of  all  :  but  this 
will  be  decided  by  your  disposition  towards  me.  ...  If 
you  consider  the  case  dispassionately,  you  will  perceive 
that  I  act  involuntarily  ;  and  that,  if  Providence  decrees 
tbat  I  must  suffer,  my  lot  will  be  unmerited.  Though 
my  royal  power  gives  me  free  scope  of  action,  I  still  rec- 
ognize that  measures  of  a  harsh  tendency  are  exceptional ; 
and,  though  I  cannot  revoke  the  deeds  of  the  past,  I  can 
confess  their  gravity.  Would,  however,  that  I  had  never 
been  compelled  to  them  by  a  hard  necessity!  In  that 
case,  no  one  else  would  have  been  named  for  his  virtues 
where  Phalaris  was  in  company." 

The  following  letter,  addressed  by  Phalaris  to  a  peevish 
critic,  shows  that  consciousness  of  rectitude  had  gradually 
braced  the  too  sensitive  mind  of  the  prince  [Ep.  66  =  94 
(Lenuep)]  : 

''To  Telecleides. 

"  For  reasons  best  known  to  yourself,  you  have  repeat- 
edly observed  in  conversation  with  my  friends  that,  after 
the  death  of  Perilaus,  the  artist  of  the  bull,  I  ought  not 
to  have  despatched  any  other  persons  by  the  same  mode 


IV.]  THE  LETTERS  OF  rilAF^ARIS.  47 

of  torment ;  since  I  thus  cancel  my  own  merit.  Possibly 
you  had  in  view  the  result  which  has  actually  occurred — 
viz.,  that  your  remarks  should  be  carried  to  mc.  Now,  as 
to  IVrilaus,  I  do  not  value  myself  upon  the  compliments 
which  I  received  for  having  punished  him  ;  praise  was  not 
my  object  in  assuming  that  office.  As  to  the  other  per- 
sons, I  feel  no  uneasiness  at  the  misrepresentations  t<» 
which  I  am  exposed  for  chastising  them.  Retribution 
operates  in  a  sphere  apart  from  good  or  evil  report.  Per- 
mit mc,  however,  to  observe  that  my  reason  for  correcting 
the  artist  was  precisely  this — that  other  persons  were  to 
be  despatched  in  the  bull. . . .  "Well,  I  am  now  in  posses- 
sion of  your  views;  it  is  unnecessary  for  you  to  trouble 
other  listeners ;  do  bat  cease  to  worry  yourself  and  mc." 

The  slight  tcstiness  which  appears  at  the  end  only  con- 
firms Sir  William  Temple's  remark,  that  here  we  have 
to  do  with  a  man  of  affairs,  whose  time  was  not  to  be  at 
the  mercy  of  every  idle  tattler.  After  Wotton  had  pub- 
lished the  first  edition  of  his  "  Reflections  on  Ancient  and 
Modern  Learning"  (1694),  Bcntley  had  happened  to  speak 
with  him  of  the  passage  in  Temple's  Essay  which  we 
quoted  above.  Bcntley  observed  that  the  Letters  of  Phal- 
aris  could  be  proved  to  be  spurious,  and  that  nothing 
composed  by  yEsop  was  extant :  opinions  which  he  had 
formed,  and  intimated,  long  before  Temple  wrote.  Wot- 
ton then  obtained  a  promise  from  Bcntley  that  he  would 
give  his  reasons  for  these  views  in  a  paper  to  be  printed 
as  an  appendix  to  the  second  edition  of  the  "  Reflections." 
But  meanwhile  an  incident  occurred  which  gave  a  new 
turn  to  the  matter. 

Dr.  Ilcnry  Aldrich,  then  Dean  of  Christ  Church,  had 
been  accustomed  to  engage  the  most  promising  of  the 
younger  scholars  in  the  task  of  editing  classical  authors, 


48  BENTLEY,  [chap. 

and  copies  of  such  editions  ■were  usually  presented  by  hira 
to  members  of  the  House  at  the  beginning  of  the  year. 
Temple's  essay  had  attracted  attention  to  the  Letters  of 
Phalaris.  In  1693  the  preparation  of  a  new  edition  was 
proposed  by  the  Dean  to  "  a  young  Gentleman  of  great 
hopes"  (as  Bentley  calls  him),  the  Honourable  Charles 
Boyle,  a  brother  of  the  Earl  of  Orrery,  and  grand-nephew 
of  Robert  Boyle,  the  founder  of  the  Lectures.  Charles 
Boyle  was  at  this  time  only  seventeen.  Before  coming 
to  Oxford,  he  had  been  the  private  pupil  of  Dr.  Gale,  the 
Dean  of  York  (formerly,  for  a  brief  space,  Greek  Professor 
at  Cambridge),  of  whom  he  says :  "  the  foundation  of  all 
the  little  knowledge  I  have  in  these  matters  was  laid  by 
him,  which  I  gratefully  own."  Boyle's  scholarship  seems 
to  have  been  quite  up  to  the  higher  school  standard  of 
that  day ;  he  appears  to  have  been  bright,  clever,  and 
amiable,  and  was  personally  much  liked  at  Christ  Church. 
In  preparing  his  Phalaris,  he  wished  to  consult  a  manu- 
script which  was  in  the  King's  Library  at  St.  James's. 
He  accordingly  wrote  to  his  bookseller  in  London,  Mr. 
Thomas  Bennet,  *'  at  the  Half-moon  in  St.  Paul's  Church- 
yard," requesting  him  to  get  the  manuscript  collated. 
This  was  apparently  in  September,  1693.  Bentley  had 
then  nothing  to  do  with  the  Library.  The  Royal  Patent 
constituting  him  Keeper  of  His  Majesty's  Libraries  bore 
date  April  12,  1694;  and,  owing  to  delays  of  form,  it  was 
the  beginning  of  May  before  he  had  actual  custody  of  the 
Library  at  St.  James's,  Bennet  had  already  spoken  to 
Bentley  (early  in  1694,  it  seems)  about  the  manuscript 
of  Phalaris ;  and  Bentley  had  replied  that  he  would  glad- 
ly "  help  Mr.  Boyle  to  the  book." 

Meanwhile  Bennet  had  received  urgent  applications  from 
Boyle,  and  had  laid  the  blame  of  the  delay  on  Bentley. 


IV.]  THE  LETTERS  OF  PIIALARIS.  49 

As  soon  as  the  latter  had  assuinctl  charge  of  the  Library 
(May,  1C94),  lie  gave  the  manuscript  to  a  person  sent  for 
it  by  Bonnet.  "  I  ordered  him,"  says  Bentley,  "  to  tell  the 
collator  not  to  lose  any  time ;  for  I  was  shortly  to  go  out 
of  town  for  two  months."  This  was  afterwards  proved 
by  a  letter  from  Gibson,  the  person  employed  as  collator. 
The  manuscript  remained  in  Gibson's  hands  "five  or  six 
days,"  according  to  Bentley ;  and  this  estimate  can  scarce- 
ly be  excessive,  for  Boyle  himself  says  merely  "  not  wine." 
Bentley  was  to  leave  London  for  Worcester  (to  reside  two 
months  there)  at  five  o'clock  on  a  Monday  morning  to- 
wards the  end  of  May.  On  the  Saturday  before,  about 
noon,  Bentley  went  to  Bennet's  shop,  asked  for  the  manu- 
script, and  waited  whilst  a  message  was  sent  to  Gibson. 
"Word  came  back  that  Gibson  had  not  finished  the  colla- 
tion. Bennet  then  begged  that  the  manuscript  might  be 
left  with  him  till  Sunday  morning,  and  promised  to  make 
the  collator  sit  up  all  night.  Bentley  declined  to  comply 
■with  this  demand,  but  said  that  they  might  keep  the  man- 
uscript till  the  evening  of  that  day — Saturday.  On  Satur- 
day evening  it  was  restored  to  Bentley.  Only  forty-eight 
letters  had  then  been  collated. 

As  this  affair  was  made  a  grave  charge  against  Bentley, 
it  is  well  to  sec  just  what  it  means.  The  business  of  the 
collator  was  to  take  a  printed  text  of  Thalavis,  compare  it 
with  the  manuscript,  and  note  those  readings  in  which  the 
manuscript  differed  from  it.  This  particular  manuscript 
was,  in  Bentley's  words,  "  as  legible  as  print."  "  I  had  a 
mind,"  he  says,  "for  the  experiment's  sake,  to  collate  the 
first  forty  epistles,  -which  are  all  that  the  collator  has  done. 
And  I  had  finished  them  in  an  hour  and  eighteen  minutes; 
though  I  made  no  very  great  haste.  And  yet  I  remarked 
and  set  down  above  fifty  various  lections,  though  the  edi- 


60  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

tor  has  taten  notice  of  one  only."  This  manuscript  con- 
tains only  127  of  the  148  letters.  At  Bentley's  rate,  the 
whole  might  have  been  done  in  about  five  hours.  Sup- 
pose that  Bentley  ■worked  thrice  as  fast  as  Gibson ;  the 
latter  would  have  required  fifteen  hours.  Grant,  further, 
that  Gibson  had  the  manuscript  for  four  days  only,  though 
Boyle's  phrase,  "  less  than  nine,"  implies  eight.  He  could 
still  have  completed  his  task  by  working  less  than  four 
hours  a  day.  So  utterly  groundless  was  the  complaint 
that  Bentley  had  not  allowed  sufficient  time  for  the  use 
of  the  manuscript. 

That,  however,  was  the  defence  which  Bennet  made  to 
his  employer.  Clearly  he  had  no  liking  for  the  new  Li- 
brarian who  had  begun  by  exacting  the  dues  of  the  Royal 
Libraiy.  And  he  supported  it  by  representing  Bentley  as 
unfriendly  to  Boyle's  work.  *'  The  bookseller  once  asked 
me  privately,"  says  Bentley,  "  that  I  would  do  him  the  fa- 
vour to  tell  my  opinion,  if  the  new  edition  of  Phalaris, 
then  in  the  press,  would  be  a  vendible  book?  for  he  had 
a  concern  in  the  impression,  and  hoped  it  would  sell  well ; 
such  a  great  character  being  given  of  it  in  [Temple's]  Es- 
says as  made  it  mightily  inquired  after.  I  told  him.  He 
would  be  safe  enough,  since  he  was  concerned  for  nothing 
but  the  sale  of  the  book :  for  the  great  names  of  those 
that  recommended  it  would  get  it  many  buyers.  But 
however,  under  the  rose,  the  book  was  a  spurious  piece, 
and  deserved  not  to  be  spread  in  the  world  by  another 
impression."  Dr.  William  King,  a  member  of  Christ 
Church,  and  a  "  wit,"  chanced  to  be  in  Beunet's  shop  one 
day,  and  overheard  some  remark  of  Bentley's  which  he 
considered  rude  towards  Boyle.  "After  he  [Bentley]  was 
gone,"  writes  the  frank  Dr.  King,  "  I  told  Mr.  Bennet  that 
he  ought  to  send  Mr.  Boyle  word  of  it."     Boyle's  edition 


IV.]  THE  LETTERS  OK  I'llALAKIS.  61 

of  riialaris  appeared  in  January,  1G95,  with  a  <Traccfiil  dcd- 
icatiun  to  the  Dean  of  Clirist  Church.  The  Latin  preface 
conchidcs  thus : 

"  I  Iiave  collated  the  Letters  themselves  with  two  Bod- 
leian manuscripts  from  the  Cantuar  and  Seldcn  collection ; 
I  have  also  procured  a  collation,  as  fur  as  Letter  XL.,  of  a 
manuscript  in  the  Royal  Library;  the  Librarian,  with  that 
courtoey  which  distinguishes  him  [pro  sinfjulari  sua  hu- 
manitate],  refused  me  the  further  use  of  it.  I  have  not 
recorded  every  variation  of  the  MSS.  from  the  printed 
texts;  to  do  so  would  have  been  tedious  and  useless;  but, 
■wherever  I  have  departed  from  the  common  reading,  ray 
authority  will  be  found  in  the  notes.  This  little  book  is 
indebted  to  the  printer  for  more  than  usual  elegance;  it 
is  hoped  that  the  author's  labour  may  bring  it  an  equal 
measure  of  acceptance." 

Fro  sinr/ulari  sua  hiunanitatc :  with  that  courtesy  which 
distinguishes  him ;  or,  as  Bentley  renders  it,  with  grim  lit- 
cralness,  "  out  of  his  singular  humanity !"  This,  says  Bent- 
ley,  "  was  meant  as  a  lash  for  me,  who  had  the  honour  then 
and  since  to  serve  his  Majesty  in  that  office"  (of  Libra- 
rian); and,  in  fact,  the  nature  of  Bentley's  "humanity" 
forthwith  became  a  question  of  the  day. 

The  tone  of  Boyle's  public  reference  to  Bentley  was 
wholly  unjustifiable.  Bentley  had  returned  from  "Worces- 
ter to  London  some  months  before  Boyle's  book  was 
ready,  but  no  application  had  been  made  to  him  for  a  fur- 
ther use  of  the  manuscript,  though  a  few  hours  would 
have  finished  the  collation.  Bentley,  after  his  return  to 
London,  spent  a  fortnight  at  Oxford,  "conversing,"  he 
says,  "in  the  very  college  where  the  editors  resided;  not 
the  least  whisper  there  of  the  manuscript."  It  was  on 
January  26 — when  the  book  had  been  out  more  than  three 


52  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

weeks — that  Bentley  chanced  to  see  it  for  the  first  time, 
''in  the  hands  of  a  person  of  honour  to  whom  it  had  been 
presented;  and  the  rest  of  the  impression  was  not  yet 
published.  This  encouraged  ine  to  write  the  very  same 
evening  to  Mr.  Boyle  at  Oxford,  and  to  give  him  a  true  in- 
formation of  the  whole  matter;  expecting  that,  upon  the 
receipt  of  my  letter,  he  would  put  a  stop  to  the  publication 
of  his  book,  till  he  had  altered  that  passage,  and  printed 
the  page  anew ;  which  he  might  have  done  in  one  day, 
and  at  the  charge  of  five  shillings.  I  did  not  expressly 
desire  him  to  take  out  that  passage,  and  reprint  the  whole 
leaf;  that  I  thought  was  too  low  a  submission.  But  I 
said  enough  to  make  any  person  of  common  justice  and 
ingenuity  [ingenuousness]  have  owned  me  thanks  for  pre- 
venting him  from  doing  a  very  ill  action."  "After  a  de- 
lay of  tvro  posts,"  Boyle  replied  in  terms  of  which  Bentley 
gives  the  substance  thus :  "  that  what  I  had  said  in  my 
own  behalf  might  be  true  ;  but  that  Mr,  Bennet  had  repre- 
sented the  thing  quite  otherwise.  If  he  had  had  my  ac- 
count before,  he  should  have  considered  of  it:  and  [but?] 
now  that  the  book  was  made  public,  he  would  not  inter- 
pose, but  that  I  might  do  myself  right  in  what  method  I 
pleased."  On  receiving  Bentley's  explanation,  Boyle  was 
clearly  bound,  if  not  to  withdraw  the  offensive  passage,  at 
least  to  stop  its  circulation  until  he  had  inquired  farther. 
And  he  knew  this,  as  his  own  words  show.  This  is  his 
account  of  his  reply  to  Bentley :  "  That  Mr.  Bennet,  whom 
I  employed  to  wait  on  him  in  my  name,  gave  me  such  an 
account  of  his  reception,  that  I  had  reason  to  apprehend 
myself  affronted :  and  since  I  could  make  no  other  excuse 
to  my  reader,  for  not  collating  the  King's  MS.,  but  because 
'twas  denyed  me,  I  thought  I  cou'd  do  no  less  than  express 
some  resentment  of  that  denial.     That  I  shou'd  be  very 


IV.]  TUE  LETTERS  OF  rilAI.AKIS.  63 

much  coiiccrnVl  if  Mr.  Dcnnct  had  dealt  so  ill  with  me  as 
to  mislead  me  in  his  accounts;  and  if  that  appear  il,shoHd 
he  ready  to  take  some  opj)ortunitij  of  hc(jfj'inrj  his  [Bent- 
ley's]  pardon :  and,  as  I  remember,  I  exjiress'd  myself  so, 
that  the  Dr  miyht  understand  I  meant  to  yive  him  satisfac- 
tion as  puUickly  as  I  had  injur  d  him.  Here  the  matter 
rested,  and  I  thought  that  Dr  Bentley  was  satisfied^ 

That  is  to  say,  Boyle  had  offered  a  public  affront  to 
Bentley,  without  inquiring  whether  Bennct's  story  was 
true ;  Bentley  explained  that  it  was  untrue ;  and  Boyle 
still  refused  to  make  any  amend,  even  provisionally. 
Bentley  was  advised  by  some  of  his  friends  to  refute  the 
aspersion  :  which,  indeed,  was  not  merely  a  charge  of  rude- 
ness, but  also  of  failure  in  his  duty  as  Librarian.  He  re- 
mained silent.  "  Out  of  a  natural  aversion  to  all  quarrels 
and  broils,  and  out  of  regard  to  the  editor  himself,  I  re- 
solved to  take  no  notice  of  it,  but  to  let  the  matter  drop." 

But  in  1697  "Wotton  was  preparing  a  second  edition  of 
the  "  Reflections,"  and  claimed  Bentley's  old  promise  to 
write  something  on  yEsop  and  Phalaris,  Then,  in  a  great 
hurry,  Bentley  wrote  an  essay  on  the  "  Epistles  of  Phalaris, 
Themistocles,  Socrates,  Euripides,  and  others;  and  the  Fa- 
bles of  ^Esop."  This  essay  was  printed, with  a  separate  title- 
page,  at  the  end  of  the  new  edition  of  the  "Reflections" 
(1697).  "What  was  he  to  say  about  Boyle  ?  "  Upon  such 
an  occasion,"  he  remarks,  "  I  was  plainly  obliged  to  speak 
of  that  calumny :  for  my  silence  would  have  been  inter- 
preted as  good  as  a  confession :  especially  considering 
with  what  industrious  malice  the  story  liad  been  spread 
all  over  England."  In  this  he  was  possibly  right ;  it  is 
not  easy  to  say  now.  But  his  mode  of  self-vindication 
was  certainly  not  judicious.  He  ought  to  have  confined 
liimself  to  a  statement  of  the  facts  concerning  the  loan  of 


64  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

the  manuscript.  After  doing  this,  however,  he  enters  upon 
a  hostile  review  of  Boyle's  book.  Throughout  it  he  speaks 
in  the  plural  of  "  our  editors."  He  may  have  had  reason 
to  know  that  Boyle  had  been  assisted ;  but  such  a  use  of 
the  knowledge  was  unwarrantable. 

Boyle's  edition  was  the  slight  performance  of  a  very 
young  man,  and  apart  from  the  sentence  in  the  preface, 
might  fairly  be  regarded  as  privileged.  It  contains  a  short 
Latin  life  of  Phalaris,  based  on  ancient  notices  and  on  the 
Letters  themselves ;  the  Greek  text,  with  a  Latin  version  ; 
and,  at  the  end,  some  notes.  These  notes  deserve  mention 
only  because  Bentley  was  afterwards  accused  of  having 
"  pillaged  "  them.  There  was  a  singular  hardihood  in  this 
charge.  Boyle's  notes  on  the  hundred  and  forty-eight  Let- 
ters occupy  just  twelve  small  pages.  The  greater  part  of 
them  are  simply  brief  paraphrases  intended  to  bring  out 
the  sense  of  the  text.  Three  Latin  translations  of  Phalaris 
then  existed ;  one,  not  printed,  but  easily  accessible  in 
manuscript,  by  Francesco  Accolti  of  Arezzo  (Aretino) ;  a 
second,  printed  by  Thomas  Kirchmeier,  who  Hellenized 
his  surname  into  Naogeorgus  (Basel,  1558) ;  and  a  third, 
ascribed  to  Cujas,  which  Boyle  knew  as  re-issued  at  Ingol- 
stadt  in  1G14  for  the  use  of  the  Jesuit  schools.  Boyle's 
version  occasionally  coincides  with  phrases  of  Aretino  or 
the  Jesuit  text ;  this,  however,  may  well  be  accident.  It 
is  manifest,  however,  that  his  translation  was  based  on  that 
of  Naogeorgus,  who  is  sometimes  less  elegant,  but  not 
seldom  more  accurate. 

The  story  of  the  controversy  has  usually  been  told  as  if 
Boyle  defended  the  genuineness  of  the  Letters,  while  Bent- 
ley  impugned  it.  That  is  certainly  the  impression  which 
any  one  would  derive  from  Bentley's  Dissertation,  with  its 
banter  of  "  our  editors  and  their  Sicilian  prince."     Proba- 


IV.]  TUE  LETTERS  OF  PUALARIS. 

biy  it  will  be  new  to  most  persons  that  Boyle  liad  never 
asserted  the  genuineness  of  the  Letters.  On  the  contnirv, 
he  had  expressly  stated  some  reasons  for  believing  that 
they  were  not  genuine. 

I  translate  the  following  from  Boyle's  Latin  preface: 

"  The  reader  of  these  Letters  will  find  less  profit  in  inquiring  who 
wrote  them  than  pleasure  in  enjoying  the  perusal.  As  to  the  au- 
thorship, the  conflicting  opinions  of  learned  men  must  be  consulted — 
perhaps  in  vain ;  as  to  the  worth  of  the  book,  the  reader  can  judge 
best  for  himself.  Lest  I  disappoint  curiosity,  however — though  the 
controversy  docs  not  deserve  keen  zeal  on  either  part — I  will  briefly 
explain  what  seems  to  me  probable  on  both  sides  of  the  question." 

Here  lie  enumerates:  (l)  some  of  those  who  think  the 
Letters  genuine — including  Sir  W.  Temple,  whose  encomi- 
um on  PJialaris  he  freely  Latinizes :  (2)  tliose  who  believe 
the  Letters  to  be  the  work  of  Lucian.  Here  Boyle  gives 
liis  reasons — excellent  as  far  as  they  go — for  holding  that 
Lucian  was  twt  the  author.     He  then  resumes : 

"These  arc  my  reasons  for  not  ascribing  the  Letters  to  Lucian; 
there  are  other  reasons  which  make  me  doubt  whether  Phalaris  can 
claim  the  Letters  as  his  own.  It  was  scarcely  possible  that  Letters 
written  by  so  distinguished  a  man,  and  in  their  own  kind  perfect, 
should  have  remained  completely  hidden  for  more  than  a  thousand 
years:  and,  as  Sicilian  writers  always  preferred  the  Dorian  dialect, 
the  tyrant  of  the  Agrigcntincs  (who  were  Dorians)  ought  to  have 
used  no  other.  In  the  style  there  is  nothing  unworthy  of  a  king, 
except  that  he  is  too  fond  of  antithesis,  and  sometimes  rather  frigid. 
I  have  also  noticed  that  sometimes  (though  that  may  be  accidental) 
the  Letters  bear  names  which  look  as  if  they  had  been  invented  to 
suit  the  contents.  As  to  history,  time  has  robbed  us  of  all  certain 
knowledge  regarding  the  state  of  Sicily  and  its  commonwealth,  in 
that  age;  and  the  recipients  of  the  letters  are  mostly  obscure, except 
Stesichorus,  Pythagoras,  and  Abaris  ;  whose  age  agrees  with  that  of 
Phalaris — thus  affording  no  hold  for  doubt  on  that  ground.    If,  how- 


66  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

ever,  Diodorus  Siculus  is  right  in  saying  that  Tauromenium,  whose 
citizens  our  author  addresses,  was  built  and  so  called  after  the  de- 
struction of  Naxos  by  the  younger  Dionysius— then  the  claim  of  Fhal- 
aris  is  destroyed,  and  the  whole  fabric  of  conjectural  ascription  falls 
to  the  ground.  This  is  the  sum  of  what  I  had  to  say  on  my  author — 
set  forth,  indeed,  somewhat  hastily ;  but,  if  more  learned  men  have 
anything  to  urge  against  it,  I  am  ready  to  hear  it." 

Boyle  wrote  this,  let  it  be  remembered,  before  Bentley 
had  published  anything  on  the  subject.  Boyle  was  strict- 
ly justified  in  saying  afterwards,  "  I  never  profess'd  myself 
a  patron  of  Phalaris ;"  "  I  was  not  in  the  least  concern'd 
to  vindicate  the  Letters."  He  defines  his  own  position 
with  exactness  in  another  place :  "  Phalaris  was  always  a 
favourite  book  with  me :  from  the  moment  I  tnew  it,  I 
wish'd  it  might  prove  an  original :  I  had  now  and  then, 
indeed,  some  suspicions  that  'twas  not  genuine ;  but  I 
lov'd  him  so  much  more  than  I  suspected  him,  that  I 
wou'd  not  suffer  myself  to  dwell  long  upon  'em.  To  be 
sincere,  the  opinion,  or  mistake,  if  you  will,  was  so  pleasing 
that  I  was  somewhat  afraid  of  being  undeceiv'd."  It  was 
Sir  William  Temple,  not  Boyle,  who  was  committed  to  the 
view  that  the  Letters  were  genuine. 

We  shall  speak  of  Bentley's  Dissertation  in  its  second 
and  mature  form.  The  first  rough  draft,  in  Wotton's  book, 
is  a  rapid  argument,  with  just  enough  illustration  to  make 
each  topic  clear.  It  had  been  very  hastily  written.  That 
Boyle  and  his  friends  should  have  been  angry,  can  surprise 
no  one.  Bentley,  in  rebutting  a  calumny,  had  become  a 
rough  assailant.  A  reply  came  out  in  January,  1696.  It 
was  entitled,  "  Dr.  Bentley's  Dissertations  on  the  Epistles 
of  Phalaris  and  the  Fables  of  ^sop,  examin'd  by  the  Hon- 
ourable Charles  Boyle,  Esq."  The  motto  was  taken  from 
Roscommon's  "  Essay  of  Translated  Verse  :" 


IV.]  THE  LETTERS  OF  IMIALAUIS.  67 

"  Remember  Milo's  end  ; 
Wcdg'd  in  that  Timber,  wliicli  he  strove  to  rend." 

The  piece  is  clever  aiul  effective.  "  Soon  after  Dr. 
Bentlcy's  Dissertation  came  out,"  Doyle  says  in  the  pref- 
ace, "  I  was  caird  away  into  Ireland,  to  attend  the  Par- 
liament  there.  The  publick  business,  and  my  own  private 
affairs,  detain'd  mc  a  great  while  in  that  kingdom ;  else 
the  world  slionld  have  had  a  much  earlier  account  of  him 
and  his  performance."  Boyle  explains  that  he  had  edited 
the  Letters  "rather  as  one  that  wish'd  well  to  learning 
than  profess'd  it."  His  motive  for  replying  to  Bentlcy's 
attack  is  "the  publick  affront"  of  being  charged  with  set- 
ting his  name  to  a  book  which  was  not  his  own.  No  one 
had  helped  him  in  it — except  one  friend  who  had  been  his 
adviser  "  upon  any  difficulty,"  and  had  also  consulted  "  some 
books "  for  him  "  in  the  Oxford  Libraries."  As  to  the 
Letters,  he  had  neither  asserted  nor  denied  their  genuine- 
ness. He  is  sorry  to  have  been  the  occasion  of  bringing 
such  a  storm  on  the  head  of  Sir  "William  Temple.  He  re- 
grets, too,  that  Bentley  should  have  extended  his  asper- 
sions to  Christ  Church.  Then  comes  an  onslaught  on 
Bentlcy's  essay  and  a  defence  of  Boyle's  book.  "  A  Short 
Account  of  Dr.  Bentley  by  way  of  Index  "  was  appended 
to  the  second  edition.  This  is  an  index  to  the  preceding 
266  pages,  under  such  heads  as  these :  "  Dr.  Bentlcy's 
Civil  Usage  of  Mr.  Boyle ;  His  Singular  Humanity  to 
Mr.  Boyle ;  His  Elegant  Similes ;  His  Clean  and  Gentile 
Metaphors ;  His  Old  Sayings  and  Proverbs ;  His  Col- 
lection of  Asinine  Proverbs;  His  Extraordinary  Talent 
at  Drollery ;  His  Dogmatical  Air ;  His  Ingenuity  in 
transcribing  and  plundering  Notes  and  Prefaces  of  Mr. 
Boyle  [here  follows  a  list  of  other  victims].  His  Mod- 
esty and  Decency  in  contradicting  Great  Men  [here  fol- 


58  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

lows  a  list  of  the  persons  contradicted,  ending  with  Every- 
bodyy 

This,  we  know,  was  a  joint  performance.  Francis  At- 
terbury,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Rochester,  was  then  thirty- 
six  :  George  Smalridge  was  a  year  younger.  Both  were 
already  distinguished  at  Oxford.  Attcrbury,  in  a  letter  to 
Boyle,  says  with  reference  to  this  piece :  "  in  writing  more 
than  half  of  the  book,  in  reviewing  a  good  part  of  the 
rest,  in  transcribing  the  whole  and  attending  the  press  half 
a  year  of  my  life  has  passed  away."  Smalridge  is  sup- 
posed to  have  contributed  a  playful  proof  that  Bentley 
did  not  write  his  own  essay.  This  is  a  parody  of  Bent- 
ley's  arguments  about  Phalaris,  partly  woven  with  his  own 
words  and  phrases.  This  sham  Bentley — urges  the  critic 
— "  is  a  perfect  Dorian  in  his  language,  in  his  thoughts, 
and  in  his  breeding."  It  is  vain  to  plead  that  "  he  was 
born  in  some  Village  remote  from  Town,  and  bred  among 
the  Peasantrj'^  while  young."  The  real  Bentley  had  been 
"  a  Member  of  one  University,  and  a  Sojourner  in  the  other; 
a  Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to  the  King,  and  a  Tutor  in  extra- 
ordinary to  a  Young  Gentleman :"  such  a  man  must  surely 
have  written  Attic ;  he  must  "have  quitted  his  Old  Coun- 
try Dialect  for  that  of  a  Londoner,  a  Gentleman,  and  a 
Scholar."  Then  the  sham  Bentley  is  "  a  Fierce  and  Angry 
Writer;  and  One,  who  when  he  thinks  he  has  an  advan- 
tage over  another  Man,  gives  him  no  Quarter."  But  the 
real  Bentley  says  in  his  Letter  to  Dr.  Mill,  "it  is  not  in 
my  nature  to  trample  upon  the  Prostrate."  The  real 
Bentley  was  "  much  vers'd  in  the  Learned  Languages." 
This  pseudo-Bentley  shows  "  that  he  was  not  only  a  per- 
fect Stranger  to  the  best  Classic  Authors,  but  that  he 
wanted  that  Light  which  any  Ordinary  Dictionary  would 
have  afforded  him."     The  pages  on  ^sop  may  have  been 


n]  THE  LETTERS  OF  TIIALARIS.  59 

chiefly  due  to  Anthony  AIsop,  a  young  Student  of  Christ 
Cliurcli,  wlio  edited  the  Fables  in  that  year  (1698).  The 
"  vcrv  deserving  gentleman  "  to  whom  Boyle  refers  as  his 
assistant  appears  to  have  been  John  Freind,  whose  brother 
Robert  (both  were  Students  of  Christ  Church)  is  also  be- 
licvcd  to  have  lielped.  Some  of  the  insults  to  Bcntley 
arc  very  gross.  Thus  it  is  hinted,  twice  over,  that  his 
further  compliance  in  the  matter  of  the  manuscript  might 
have  been  purchased  by  a  fee.  Tbis  is  the  only  thing  in 
the  piece  which  Bontlcy  noticed  with  a  word  of  serious 
reproof. 

The  book  gives  us  some  curious  glimpses  of  the  way  in 
which  critical  studies  were  then  viewed  by  Persons  ol 
Honour.  "  Begging  the  Dr's  pardon,"  says  Boyle,  "  I  tako 
Index-hunting  after  Words  and  Phrases  to  be,  next  after 
Ancif/rams  and  Acrostlcks,  the  lowest  Diversion  a  Man  can 
betake  himself  to."  Boyle  is  apprehensive  lest  "  worthy 
Men,  who  know  so  well  how  to  employ  their  hours,  should 
be  diverted  from  the  pursuit  of  Useful  Knowledge  into 
such  trivial  Enquiries  as  these:"  and  he  shrinks  from  be- 
ing suspected  of  having  "thrown  away  any  considerable 
part  of  his  life  on  so  trifling  a  subject."  He  need  not 
have  felt  much  uneasiness. 

However  small  Boyle's  share  in  this  book  may  have 
been,  it  is  right  to  observe  that  there  is  an  almost  ludi- 
crous exaggeration  in  the  popular  way  of  telling  the  story, 
as  if  all  Christ  Church,  or  all  Oxford,  had  been  in  a  league 
to  annihilate  Bentlcy.  The  joint  book  was  written  by  a 
group  of  clever  friends  who  represented  only  themselves. 
Ryraer,  indeed,  says,  "  Dr.  Aldrich,  no  doubt,  was  at  the 
head  of  them,  and  smoaked  and  punned  plentifully  on 
this  occasion."  But  this  was  a  mistake.  The  "Short 
Review"  published  anonymously  in  ITOI  (the  author  was 


GO  BENTLEY.  chap. 

Atterbnry)  says  expressly :  "  That  an  answer  was  pre- 
paring, he  [the  Dean  of  Christ  Church]  knew  nothing  of 
till  'twas  publick  talk,  and  he  never  saw  a  line  of  the  Ex- 
amination but  in  Print." 

In  the  preface  to  Anthony  Alsop's  ^sop — another  of 
the  Christ  Church  editions,  which  came  out,  before 
Boyle's  book,  early  in  1698 — our  hero  is  mentioned  as 
"a  certain  Bentley,  diligent  enough  in  turning  over  lexi- 
cons ;"  and  his  behaviour  about  the  manuscript  is  indi- 
cated by  a  Latin  version  of  "  The  Dog  in  the  Manger." 
The  wearied  ox,  coming  home  to  dinner,  is  driven  from 
his  hay  by  the  snarling  usurper,  and  remonstrates  warm- 
ly ;  when  the  dog  replies,  "  You  call  me  currish ;  if  for- 
eigners are  any  judges,  there  is  not  a  hound  alive  that  ap- 
proaches me  in  humanity."  To  whom  the  ox :  "  Is  this 
your  singular  humanity,  to  refuse  me  the  food  that  you 
will  not  and  cannot  enjoy  yourself?" 

At  last  "Boyle  against  Bentley"  came  out  (1698).  Its 
success  was  enormous.  A  second  edition  vpas  called  for 
in  a  few  months.  A  third  edition  followed  in  the  next 
year.  Forty-six  years  later,  when  both  the  combatants 
were  dead,  it  was  still  thought  worth  while  to  publish  a 
fourth  edition. 

Temple  lost  no  time  in  pronouncing.  In  March,  just 
after  the  book  appeared,  he  writes :  "  The  compass  and 
application  of  so  much  learning,  the  strength  and  perti- 
nence of  his  (Boyle's)  arguments,  the  candour  of  his  re- 
lations, in  return  to  such  foul-mouthed  raillery,  the  pleas- 
ant turns  of  wit,  and  the  easiness  of  style,  are  in  my  opin- 
ion as  extraordinary  as  the  contrary  of  these  all  appear  to 
be  in  what  the  Doctor  and  his  friend  [Wotton]  have  writ- 
ten." Hard  as  this  is  on  Bentley,  it  is  harder  still  on 
poor  Wotton,  who  had  been  elaborately  civil  to  Temple. 


IV.]  Tin:  LETTERS  OF  niALARIS.  61 

Garth  published  his  Dispensary  in  1G99,  with  that  luckless 
couplet — meant,  says  Noble,  "  to  please  his  brother  wits  at 
Button's:" 

"  So  Jiamonds  take  a  lustre  from  their  foil, 
And  to  a  Bentley  'tis  we  owe  a  Boyle." 

John  Milncr,  formerly  Vicar  of  Leeds,  had,  as  a  non- 
juror, lost  his  preferments  at  the  Revolution,  and  was 
then  living  at  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge.  In  his 
"  View  of  the  Dissertation  "  (1698)  he  proposes  "  to  mani- 
fest the  incertitude  of  heathen  chronology,"  and  takes 
part  against  Uentlcy.  According  to  Eustace  Budgell,  a 
caricature  was  published  at  Cambridge,  in  which  Phalaris 
was  consigning  Bentley  to  the  bull,  while  the  Doctor  ex- 
claimed, "  I  would  rather  be  roasted  than  boyled."  Ry- 
raer,  in  his  "Essay  on  Critical  and  Curious  Learning" 
(1698),  blames  both  parties.  As  to  the  question  at  issue, 
he  argues  that  "curious"  learning  is  all  very  well  in  its 
way,  but  should  not  be  carried  too  far.  On  Boyle's  cri- 
tique Rymer  makes  a  shrewd  remark:  "There  is  such  a 
profusion  of  wit  all  along,  and  such  variety  of  points  and 
raillery,  that  every  man  seems  to  have  thrown  in  a  repar- 
tee or  so  in  his  turn."  Mr.  Cole  (of  Magdalen  College, 
Oxford)  compared  it  to  "  a  Cheddar  cheese,  made  of  all 
the  milk  of  the  parish." 

In  short,  "  society  "  had  declared  against  Bentley,  and 
the  men  of  letters  almost  unanimously  agreed  with  it. 
"While  other  acquaintances  were  turning  their  backs,  Eve- 
lyn stood  loyal.  That  was  the  state  of  things  in  1698. 
Bentley  remained  calm.  A  friend  who  met  him  one  day 
urged  him  not  to  lose  heart.  "  Indeed,"  he  replied,  "  I 
am  in  no  pain  about  the  matter;  for  it  is  a  maxim  with 
me  that  no  man  was  ever  written  out  of  reputation  but  by 
himself."  Meanwhile  he  was  preparing  a  reply. 
4 


CHAPTER  V. 

bentley's  dissertation. 

We  have  seen  that  Bentley's  essay  in  Wotton's  book  had 
been  a  hasty  production.  **  I  drew  up  that  dissertation," 
he  says,  "  in  the  spare  hours  of  a  few  weeks ;  and  while 
the  Printer  was  employed  about  one  leaf,  the  other  was 
amaking."  He  now  set  to  work  to  revise  and  enlarge  it. 
He  began  his  task  about  March,  1698 — soon  after  Boyle's 
pamphlet  appeared — but  was  interrupted  in  it  by  the  two 
months  of  his  resideuce  at  Worcester,  from  the  end  of 
May  to  the  end  of  July.  It  was  finished  toward  the  close 
of  1698.  The  time  employed  upon  it  had  thus  been 
about  seven  and  a  half  months,  not  free  from  other  and 
urgent  duties.  It  was  published  early  in  1699.  Let  us 
clearly  apprehend  the  point  at  issue.  Boyle  did  not  assert 
that  the  Letters  of  Phalaris  were  genuine ;  but  he  denied 
that  Bentley  had  yet  proved  them  to  be  spurious. 

After  a  detailed  refutation  of  the  personal  charges 
against  him,  Bentley  comes  to  the  Letters  of  Phalaris. 
First  he  takes  the  flagrant  anachronisms.  The  Letters 
mention  towns  which,  at  the  supposed  date,  were  not 
built,  or  bore  other  names.  Phalaris  presents  his  physi- 
cian with  the  ware  of  a  potter  named  Thericles — much  as 
if  Oliver  Cromwell  were  found  dispensing  the  masterpieces 


ciui'.  v.]  UKNTLEV'S  DISaEUTATIoN.  63 

of  Wedgwood,  riialaris  quotes  books  which  had  not  been 
written;  nay,  he  is  familiar  with  forms  of  literature  wliich 
had  not  been  created.  Tliough  a  Dorian,  he  writes  to  liis 
familiar  friends  in  Attic,  and  in  a  species  of  false  Attic 
which  did  not  exist  for  five  centuries  after  he  was  dead. 
Farmer  of  the  taxes  though  he  had  been,  he  has  no  idea 
of  values  in  the  ordinary  currency  of  his  own  country. 
Thus  he  complains  that  the  hostile  community  of  Catana 
had  made  a  successful  raid  on  his  principality,  and  had 
robbed  him  of  no  less  a  sum  than  seven  talents.  Again, 
he  mentions  with  some  complacency  that  he  has  bestowed 
the  munificent  dower  of  five  talents  on  a  lady  of  distinc- 
tion. According  to  the  Sicilian  standard,  the  loss  of  the 
prince  would  have  amounted  to  twelve  shillings  and  seven 
pence,  while  the  noble  bride  would  have  received  nine 
shillings.  The  occasions  of  the  letters,  too,  arc  often  sin- 
gular. A  Syracusan  sends  his  brother  to  Akragas,  a  dis- 
tance of  a  hundred  miles,  with  a  request  that  Phalaris 
would  send  a  messenger  to  Stesichorus  (another  hundred 
miles  or  so),  and  beg  that  poet  to  write  a  copy  of  verses 
on  the  Syracusan's  deceased  wife.  "  This,"  says  Bentley, 
"  is  a  scene  of  putid  and  senseless  formality."  Then  Phal- 
aris (who  brags  in  one  of  the  letters  that  Pythagoras  had 
stayed  five  months  with  him)  says  to  Stesichorus,  ^^ i^^'^lf 
do  not  mention  rac  in  your  poems."  "  This,"  says  Bent- 
ley,  "  was  a  sly  fetch  of  our  sophist,  to  prevent  so  shrewd 
an  objection  from  Stesichorus's  silence  as  to  any  friend- 
ship at  all  with  him."  But  supposing  Phalaris  had  really 
been  so  modest — Bentley  adds — still,  Stesichorus  was  a 
man  of  the  world.  The  poet  would  have  known  "that 
those  sort  of  requests  are  but  a  modest  simulation,  and  a 
disobedience  would  have  been  easily  pardoned."  Again, 
these  Letters  are  not  mentioned  by  any  writer  before  the 


64  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

fifth  century  of  our  era,  and  it  is  clear  that  the  ancients 
did  not  know  them.  Thus,  in  the  Letters,  Phalaris  dis- 
plays the  greatest  solicitude  for  the  education  of  his  son 
Paurolas,  and  writes  to  the  young  man  in  terms  which 
would  do  credit  to  the  best  of  fathers.  But  in  Aristotle's 
time  there  was  a  tradition  which  placed  the  parental  con- 
duct of  Phalaris  in  another  light.  It  alleged,  in  fact, 
that,  while  this  boy  was  still  of  a  tender  age,  the  prince 
had  caused  him  to  be  served  up  at  table:  but  how,  asks 
Bentley — supposing  the  Letters  to  be  genuine — "  could  he 
cat  his  son  while  he  was  an  infant?"  It  is  true,  the  works 
of  some  writers  in  the  early  Christian  centuries  (Pha^drus, 
Paterculus,  Lactantius)  are  not  mentioned  till  long  after 
their  death.  But  the  interval  was  one  during  which  the 
Western  world  was  lapsing  into  barbarism.  The  supposed 
epoch  of  Phalaris  was  followed  by  "  the  greatest  and  longest 
reign  of  learning  that  the  world  has  yet  seen :"  and  yet 
his  Letters  remain  hidden  for  a  thousand  years.  "  Take 
them  in  the  whole  bulk,  they  are  a  fardle  of  common- 
places, without  any  life  or  spirit  from  action  and  circum- 
stance. Do  but  cast  your  eye  upon  Cicero's  letters,  or 
any  statesman's,  as  Phalaris  was;  what  lively  characters 
of  men  there  !  what  descriptions  of  place !  what  notifica- 
tions of  time !  what  particularity  of  circumstances !  what 
multiplicity  of  designs  and  events !  When  you  return  to 
these  again,  yon  feel,  by  the  emptiness  and  deadness  of 
them,  that  you  converse  Avith  some  dreaming  pedant  with 
his  elbow  on  his  desk ;  not  with  an  active,  ambitious  ty- 
rant, with  his  hand  on  his  sword,  commanding  a  million 
of  subjects." 

Bentley's  incidental  discussions  of  several  topics  are  so 
many  concise  monographs,  each  complete  in  itself,  each 
exhaustive  within  its  own  limits,  and  each,  at  the  same 


v]  IJEN'TLEY'S   DISSERTATION.  c.r, 

time,  filling  its  due  place  in  the  economy  of  the  wjiole. 
Such  arc  the  essays  on  the  age  of  I'ythagoras,  on  the  be- 
ginnings of  Greek  Tragedy,  on  anapuistic  verse,  on  the 
coinage  of  Sicily.  In  the  last-named  subject,  it  might 
have  appeared  almost  impossible  that  a  writer  of  Bentley's 
time  should  have  made  any  near  approximation  to  correct- 
ness, lie  had  not  such  material  aids  as  arc  afforded  by 
the  Sicilian  coins  which  we  now  possess — witliout  which 
the  statements  of  ancient  writers  would  appear  involved  in 
hopeless  contradiction.  I  am  glad,  therefore,  to  quote  an 
estimate  of  Bentley's  work  in  this  department  by  a  master 
of  numismatic  science.  Mr. Barclay  Head  writes:  "Speak- 
ing generally,  Bentley's  results  are  surprisingly  accurate.  I 
think  I  may  safely  say  that  putting  aside  what  was  to  have 
been  done  within  the  last  fifty  years,  Bentley's  essay  stands 
alone.  Even  Eckhol,  in  his  'Doctrina  numornm'  (1790), 
has  nothing  to  compare  with  it."  Again,  Bentley's  range 
and  grasp  of  knowledge  are  strikingly  seen  in  critical  re- 
marks of  general  bearing  which  are  drawn  from  him  by 
the  course  of  the  discussion.  Thus  at  the  outset  he  gives 
in  a  few  words  a  broad  view  of  the  origin  and  growth  of 
literary  forgery  in  the  ancient  world.  In  the  last  two 
centuries  before  Christ,  when  there  was  a  keen  rivalry  be- 
tween the  libraries  of  Pergamus  and  Alexandria,  the  copi- 
ers of  manuscripts  began  the  practice  of  inscribing  them 
■with  the  names  of  great  writers,  in  order  that  they  might 
fetch  higher  prices.  Thus  far,  the  motive  of  falsification 
was  simply  mercenary.  But  presently  a  different  cause 
began  to  swell  the  number  of  spurious  works.  It  was  a 
favourite  exercise  of  rhetoric,  in  the  early  period  of  the 
Empire,  to  compose  speeches  or  letters  in  the  name  and 
character  of  some  famous  person.  At  first  such  exercises 
would,  of  course,  make  no    pretence  of  being  anvthing 


G6  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

more.  But,  as  the  art  was  developed,  *'  some  of  the  Greek 
Sophists  had  the  success  and  satisfaction  to  see  their  es- 
says in  that  kind  pass  with  some  readers  for  the  genuine 
works  of  tliose  they  endeavoured  to  express.  This,  no 
doubt,  was  great  content  and  joy  to  them  ;  being  as  full  a 
testimony  of  their  skill  in  imitation,  as  the  birds  gave  to 
the  painter  when  they  pecked  at  his  grapes."  Some  of 
them,  indeed,  candidly  confessed  the  trick.  "  But  most 
of  them  took  the  other  way,  and,  concealing  their  own 
names,  put  off  their  copies  for  originals ;  preferring  that 
silent  pride  and  fraudulent  pleasure,  though  it  was  to  die 
with  them,  before  an  honest  commendation  from  posterity 
for  being  good  imitators,"  And  hence  such  Letters  as 
those  of  Phalaris. 

Dr.  Aldrich  had  lately  dedicated  his  Logic  to  Charles 
Boyle.  Bentley  makes  a  characteristic  use  of  this  cir- 
cumstance. "If  his.  new  System  of  Logic  teaches  him 
such  arguments,"  says  Bentley,  "  I'll  be  content  with  the 
old  ones."  The  whole  Dissertation,  in  fact,  is  a  remorse- 
less syllogism.  But  Bentley  is  more  than  a  sound  rea- 
soner,  lie  shows  in  a  high  degree  the  faculties  which, 
go  to  make  debating  power.  He  is  frequently  success- 
ful in  the  useful  art  of  turning  the  tables.  Alluding  to 
his  opponent's  mock  proof  that  "  Dr.  Bentley  could  not 
be  the  author  of  the  Dissertation,"  he  remarks  that  Boyle's 
Examination  is  open  to  a  like  doubt  in  good  earnest,  if  we 
are  to  argue  "  from  the  variety  of  styles  in  it,  from  its 
contradictions  to  his  edition  of  Phalaris,  from  its  con- 
tradictions to  itself,  from  its  contradictions  to  Mr.  B.'s 
character  and  to  his  title  of  honourable."  Boyle  had  said 
of  Bentley,  "  the  man  that  writ  this  must  have  been  fast 
asleep,  for  else  he  could  never  have  talked  so  wildly." 
Bentley   replies,  "  I   hear    a   greater   paradox    talked   of 


v.]  BENTLEY'S  DISSERTATION.  67 

abroad;  that  not  the  'wild'  only,  but  the  best,  part  of 
the  Examiner's  book  may  possibly  have  been  written 
while  he  was  fast  asleep." 

lie  is  often  neat,  too,  in  exploding  logical  fallacies. 
Boyle  argued  that,  as  Diodorus  gives  two  different  dates 
for  the  founding  of  Tauromenium,  neither  can  be  trusted. 
Bentley  rejoins :  "  One  man  told  me  in  company  that  the 
Examiner  was  twenty-four  years  old;  and  another  said, 
twenty-five.  Now,  these  two  stories  contradict  one  an- 
other, and  neither  can  be  depended  on ;  we  arc  at  libert)-, 
therefore,  to  believe  him  a  person  of  about  fifty  years  of 
age."  Boyle  had  taken  refuge  in  a  desperate  suggestion 
that  people  might  have  been  called  "  Tauromenites  "  from  a 
river  Tauromeuius,  before  there  was  a  city  Tauromenium. 
"  Now,"  says  Bentley,  "  if  the  Tauromenites  were  a  sort 
of  fish,  this  argument  drawn  from  the  river  would  be  of 
great  force."  Boyle  had  argued  that  a  Greek  phrase  was 
not  poetical  because  each  of  the  two  words  forming  it 
was  common.     Bentley  quotes  from  Lucretius : 

"  Luna  dies,  et  nox,  ct  noctis  signa  severa." 

Is  not  every  word  common  ?  And  is  the  total  effect  pro- 
saic ?  Bentley's  retort  is  a  mere  quibble,  turning  on  the 
ambiguity  of  "common"  as  meaning  either  "vulgar"  or 
"simple" — but  illustrates  his  readiness.  Once — as  if  in 
contempt  for  his  adversary's  understanding — he  has  in- 
dulged in  a  notable  sophism.  Boyle  had  argued  tliat  the 
name  "tragedy"  cannot  have  existed  before  the  tkin^. 
Bentley  rejoins :  "  'tis  a  proposition  false  in  itself  that 
thinr/s  themselves  must  he,  before  the  names  hy  which  they 
are  called.  For  we  have  many  new  tunes  in  music  made 
every  day,  which  never  existed  before ;  yet  several  of 
them  arc  called  by  names  that  were  formerly  in  use :  and 


68  BENTLET.  [chap. 

perhaps  the  tune  of  Chevy  Chase,  though  it  be  of  famous 
antiquity,  is  a  little  younger  than  the  name  of  the  chase 
itself.  And  I  humbly  conceive  that  Mr.  Hobbes's  book, 
which  he  called  the  Leviathan,  is  not  quite  as  ancient  as 
its  name  is  iu  Hebrew."  But  the  "  name  "  of  which  Boyle 
spoke  was  descriptive,  not  merely  appellative.  Bentley's 
reasoning  would  have  been  relevant  only  if  Boyle  had  ar- 
gued that,  since  a  tragedy  is  called  the  "  Agamemnon," 
Tragedy  must  have  existed  before  Agamemnon  lived. 

As  to  the  English  style  of  the  Dissertation,  the  Boyle 
party  had  expressed  their  opinion  pretty  freely  when  the 
first  draft  of  it  had  appeared  in  Wotton's  book.  They 
complained  that,  when  Bentley  "  had  occasion  to  express 
himself  in  Terms  of  Archness  and  Wagger}',"  he  descend- 
ed to  "  low  and  mean  Ways  of  Speech."  "  The  familiar 
expressions  of  taking  one  tripping  —  coming  off  ivith  a 
zvhole  skin,  minding  his  hits  —  a  friend  at  a  p)inch — go- 
ing to  blows  —  setting  horses  together — and  going  to  2>ot ; 
with  others  borrow'd  from  the  Sports  and  Employments 
of  the  Country;  shew  our  Author  to  have  been  accus- 
tom'd  to  another  sort  of  Exercise  than  that  of  the  Schools." 
Alluding  to  the  painful  fate  which  was  said  to  have  over- 
taken the  mother  of  Phalaris,  Bentley  particularly  shock- 
ed his  critics  by  the  phrase,  "  Roasting  the  old  Woman ;" 
and,  in  a  similar  strain  of  rustic  levity,  he  had  described 
the  parent  of  Euripides  as  "  Mother  Clito  the  Herbwom- 
an."  Dr.  King,  of  Christ  Church  (who,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, had  meddled  in  the  manusci'ipt  affair),  had  written 
an  account  of  a  journey  to  Loudon ;  wherein  he  relates 
that,  on  his  asking  concerning  the  ales  at  a  certain  inn, 
the  host  answered  "  that  he  had  a  thousand  such  sort  of 
liquors,  as  humtie  dumtie,  three-threads,  four-threads,  old 
Pharoah  [sic\,  knockdown,  hugmetee,"  &c.     Playfully  re- 


v.]  BEXTLEY'3  DISSERTATION'.  69 

ferring  to  this  passage,  Bcntley  says  (speaking  of  a  wil^l 
assertion),  "A  man  must  be  dosed  with  Ilumty-diunty 
that  could  talk  so  inconsistently ;"  and  again,  speaking  of 
Dr.  King's  statements,  "If  he  comes  with  more  testimo- 
nies of  his  Bookseller  or  his  Ilumty-dumty  acquaintance, 
I  shall  take  those  for  no  answer.''  Worst  of  all,  this  fa- 
miliar style  was  used  towards  Phalaris  himself  and  his 
defenders.  Speaking  of  the  Greek  rhetoricians,  Bcntley 
announces  that  his  design  is  "to  pull  oflE  the  disguise  from 
those  little  Pedants  that  have  so  long  stalkt  about  in  the 
Apparel  of  Ileroes."  The  work  of  Boyle  and  his  assist- 
ants is  thus  characterised :  "  Here  are  your  "Work-men  to 
mend  an  author;  as  bungling  Tinkers  do  old  kettles; 
there  was  but  one  hole  in  the  text  before  they  meddled 
with  it,  but  they  leave  it  with  two." 

Not  a  soothing  style  this,  nor  one  to  be  recommended 
for  imitation.  But  what  vigour  there  is  in  some  of  the 
phrases  that  Bcntley  strikes  out  at  a  red  heat!  They 
ought  to  have  made  inquiries  "  before  they  ventur'd  to 
Print — xvhich  is  a  sword  in  the  hand  of  a  Child.''''  "  lie 
gives  us  some  shining  metaphors,  and  a  polished  period  or 
two;  but,  for  the  matter  of  it,  it  is  some  common  and  ob- 
vious thought  dressed  and  curled  in  the  heauish  way.''^ 
Speaking  of  work  which  Bishop  Pearson  had  left  unfin- 
ished: "though  it  has  not  passed  the  last  hand  of  the 
author,  yet  it's  every  way  worthy  of  him ;  and  the  very 
dust  of  his  xvritings  is  gohiy  And  here — as  Bcntley  was 
charged  in  this  controversy  with  such  boundless  arrogance, 
and  such  "  indecency  in  contradicting  great  men  " — let  us 
note  his  tone  in  the  Dissertation  towards  eminent  men 
then  living  or  lately  dead.  Nothing  could  be  more  becom- 
ing, more  worthy  of  his  own  genius,  than  the  warm,  often 
glowing,  terras  in  which  he  speaks  of  such  men  as  Seldcn, 
4* 


70  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

Pearson,  Lloyd,  Still ingfleet,  Spanhcim — in  a  word,  of  al- 
most all  the  distinguished  scholars  whom  he  has  occa- 
sion to  name.  Dodwell,  who  was  ranged  against  hira, 
is  treated  with  scrupulous  courtesy  and  fairness.  Joshua 
Barnes,  whose  own  conduct  to  Bentley  had  been  remark- 
ably bad,  could  scarcely  be  described  more  indulgently 
tlian  in  these  words — "one  of  a  singular  industry  and  a 
most  diffuse  reading."  Those  were  precisely  the  two 
things  which  could  truly  be  said  in  praise  of  Barnes, 
and  it  would  not  have  been  easy  to  find  a  third. 

Ilallam  characterises  the  style  of  the  Dissertation  as 
"  rapid,  concise,  amusing,  and  superior  to  Boyle  in  that 
which  he  had  chiefly  to  boast,  a  sarcastic  wit."  It  may  be 
questioned  how  far  "  wit,"  in  its  special  modern  sense,  was 
a  distinguishing  trait  on  either  side  of  this  controversy. 
The  chief  weapons  of  the  Boyle  alliance  were  rather  de- 
rision and  invective.  Bentley's  sarcasm  is  always  powerful 
and  often  keen;  but  the  liner  quality  of  wit,  though  seen 
in  some  touches,  can  hardly  be  said  to  pervade  the  Disser- 
tation. As  to  the  humour,  that  is  unquestionable.  There 
is  so  far  an  unconscious  element  in  it,  that  its  effect  on  the 
reader  is  partly  due  to  Bentley's  tremendous  and  unflag- 
ging earnestness  in  heaping  up  one  absurdity  upon  another. 
This  cumulative  humour  belongs  to  the  essay  as  a  whole ; 
as  Bentley  marches  on  triumphantly  from  one  exposure  to 
another,  our  sense  of  the  ludicrous  is  constantly  rising. 
But  it  can  be  seen  on  a  smaller  scale  too.  For  instance, 
one  of  Boyle's  grievances  was  that  Bentley  had  indirectly 
called  him  an  ass.  In  Bentley's  words  :  "  By  the  help,  he 
says,  of  a  Greek  proverb,  I  call  him  a  downright  ass.  Af- 
ter I  had  censured  a  passage  of  Mr.  Boyle's  translation  that 
lias  no  aflSnity  with  the  original.  This  puts  me  in  mind, 
said  I,  of  the  old  Greek  proverb,  that  Lexicon  carries  one 


v.]  BEXTLEY'S  DISSERTATION.  71 

thing,  and  his  Ass  quite  another.  Where  the  Ass  is  mani- 
festly spoken  of  the  Sophist  [the  real  author  of  the  Let- 
ters], whom  I  liad  before  represented  as  an  Ass  under  a 
Lioii's  skin.  And  if  Mr.  B.  has  such  a  dearness  for  his 
rjialaris  that  hcMl  change  places  with  him  there,  how  can 
I  help  it?  I  can  only  protest  that  I  put  him  into  Leucon's 
place ;  and  if  he  will  needs  compliment  himself  out  of  it, 
^I  must  leave  the  two  friends  to  the  pleasure  of  their  inutnal 
civilities.' "  [Boyle's  own  words  about  Bcntley  and  Wot- 
ton,]  But  this  was  not  all :  Boyle  had  accused  Bentley 
of  comparing  him  to  Lucian's  ass.  Now  this,  says  Bent- 
ley,  "were  it  true,  would  be  no  coarse  com[)liment,  but  a 
very  obliging  one.  For  Lucian's  Ass  was  ;v  very  intelli- 
gent and  ingenious  Ass,  and  had  more  sense  than  any  of 
his  Riders ;  he  was  no  other  than  Lucian  himself  in  the 
shape  of  an  ass,  and  had  a  better  talent  at  kicking  and 
bantering  than  ever  the  Examiner  will  have,  though  it 
seems  to  be  his  chief  one."  "  But  is  this  Mr.  B.'s  way  of 
interpreting  similitudes  ?  ...  If  I  liken  an  ill  critic  to  a 
bungling  Tinker,  that  makes  two  holes  while  be  mends 
one;  must  I  be  charged  with  calling  him  Tinker?  At 
this  rate  Ilomcr  will  call  his  heroes  "Wolves,  Boars,  Dogs, 
and  Bulls.  And  when  Horace  has  this  comparison  about 
himself, 

'Demitto  auriculas,  ut  iniquac  mentis  asellus,' 

Mr.  B.  may  tell  him  that  he  calls  liimself  downright  ass. 
But  he  must  be  put  in  mind  of  the  English  proverb,  that 
similitudes,  even  when  they  arc  taken  from  asses,  do  not 
walk  upon  all  four."  Swift — alluding  to  the  transference 
of  the  Letters  from  Phalaris  to  their  real  source — called 
Bentley  that  "great  rectifier  of  saddles."  Bcntley  might 
l)avc  replied  that  he  could  rectify  panniers  too. 


72  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  regard  Bentley's  Dissertation 
as  if  its  distinctive  merit  bad  consisted  in  demonstrating 
tbe  Letters  of  Pbalaris  to  be  spurious.  That  was  by  no 
means  Bentley's  own  view.  The  ppurionsness  of  these 
Letters,  be  felt  from  tbe  first,  was  patent.  He  bad  given 
(in  Wotton's  book)  a  few  of  tbe  most  striking  proofs  of 
this :  and  be  bad  been  attacked.  Now  be  was  showing, 
in  self-defence,  that  bis  proofs  not  only  beld  good,  but 
bad  deep  and  solid  foundations.  Others  before  him  bad 
suspected  that  tbe  letters  were  forgeries,  and  be  would 
have  scorned  to  take  the  smallest  credit  for  seeing  what 
was  so  plain.  He  was  the  first  to  give  sufiicient  reasons 
for  bis  belief ;  but  be  did  not  care,  and  did  not  pretend, 
to  give  all  tbe  reasons  that  might  be  adduced.  Indeed, 
any  careful  reader  of  the  Letters  can  remark  several 
proofs  of  spuriousness  on  which  Bentley  has  not  touched. 
For  instance,  it  could  be  sbown  that  tbe  fictitious  proper 
names  are  post-classical ;  that  tbe  forger  was  acquainted 
with  Thucydides ;  and  that  be  bad  read  tbe  Thecetetus  of 
Plato.  But  Bentley  bad  done  more  than  enough  for  bis 
purpose.  The  glory  of  bis  treatise  was  not  that  it  estab- 
lished-bis  conclusion,  but  that  it  disclosed  that  broad  and 
massive  structure  of  learning  upon  which  bis  conclusion 
rested.  "Tbe  only  book  that  I  have  writ  upon  my  own 
account,"  he  says,  "  is  this  present  answer  to  Mr.  B.'s  ob- 
jections ;  and  I  assure  bira  I  set  no  great  price  upon  't ; 
tbe  errors  that  it  refutes  are  so  many,  so  gross  and  palpa- 
ble, that  I  shall  never  be  very  proud  of  tbe  victory."  At 
tbe  same  time,  be  justly  refutes  tbe  assertion  of  bis  adver- 
saries that  the  point  at  issue  was  of  no  moment.  Bentley 
replies:  "That  the  single  point  whether  Pbalaris  be  gemv 
ine  or  no  is  of  no  small  importance  to  learning,  the  very 
learned  Mr.  Dodwell  is  a  sufficient  evidence ;  wbo,  espou? 


v.]  BEXTLEY'S  DISSERTATION'.  73 

in"-  Phalaris  fur  a  true  author,  lias  endeavoured  b}'  that 
means  to  make  a  i;reat  innovation  in  the  ancient  chronol- 
ogy. To  undervalue  this  dispute  about  I'halaris  because 
it  docs  not  suit  to  one's  own  studies,  is  to  (juarrel  \vitli  a 
circle  because  it  is  not  a  square." 

A  curious  fatality  attended  on  Bcntlcy'a  adversaries  iu 
this  controversy.  While  they  dealt  thrusts  at  points 
where  he  was  invulnerable,  they  missed  all  the  chinks  in 
bis  armour  except  a  statement  liniitini;  too  narrowly  the 
use  of  two  Greek  verbs,  and  his  identification  of  "Alba 
Graeca"  with  Buda  instead  of  Belgrade.  Small  and  few, 
indeed,  these  chinks  were.  It  would  have  been  a  petty, 
but  fair,  triumph  for  his  opponents,  if  they  had  perceived 
that,  in  correcting  a  passage  of  Aristophanes,  he  had  left  a 
false  quantity.  They  might  have  shown  that  a  passage  in 
Diodorus  had  led  him  into  an  error  regarding  Attic  chro- 
nology during  the  reign  of  the  Thirty  Tyrants.  They 
might  have  exulted  iu  the  fact  that  an  emendation  which 
he  proposed  in  Isa^us  rested  on  a  confusion  between  two 
ditfcrcnt  classes  of  choruses;  that  he  had  certainly  mis- 
construed a  passage  in  the  life  of  Pythagoras  by  lambli- 
chus;  that  the  "Minos,"  on  Avhich  he  relies  as  Plato's 
work,  was  spurious;  that,  iu  one  of  the  Letters  of  Phala- 
ris,  he  had  defended  a  false  reading  by  false  grammar. 
They  could  have  shown  that  Bcntley  was  demonstrably 
wrong  in  asserting  that  no  writings,  bearing  the  name  of 
^sop,  were  extant  in  the  time  of  Aristophanes;  also  in 
stating  that  the  Fable  of  "The  Two  Boys"  had  not 
come  down  to  the  modern  world :  it  was,  in  fact,  very 
near  them — safe  in  a  manuscript  at  the  Bodleian  Libra- 
ry. Even  the  discussion  on  Zaleucus  escaped  :  its  weak 
points  were  first  brought  out  by  later  critics  —  "Warbur- 
ton,  Salter,  Gibbon.     Uad  such  blemishes  been  ten  times 


14  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

more  numerous,  they  would  not  liavo  affected  the  worth 
of  the  book ;  but,  such  as  they  were,  they  were  just  of 
the  kind  which  small  detractors  delight  to  magnify.  In 
one  place  Bentley  accuses  Boyle  of  having  adopted  a 
wrong  reading  in  one  of  the  Letters,  and  thereby  made 
nonsense  of  the  passage.  Now,  Boyle's  reading,  though 
not  the  best,  happens  to  be  capable  of  yielding  the  very 
sense  which  Bentley  required.  Yet  even  this  Boyle  and 
his  friends  did  not  discover. 

How  was  the  Dissertation  received  ?  According  to  the 
popular  account,  no  sooner  had  Bentley  blown  his  mighty 
blast,  than  the  walls  of  the  hostile  fortress  fell  flat.  The 
victory  was  immediate,  the  applause  universal,  the  foe's  ruin 
overwhelming.  Tyrwhitt,  in  his  Bahrius — published  long 
after  Bentley's  death — is  seeking  to  explain  why  Bentley 
never  revised  the  remarks  on  -^sop,  which  he  had  pub- 
lished in  Wotton's  book.  "  Content  with  having  pros- 
trated his  adversaries  with  the  second  Dissertation  on 
Phalaris,  as  by  a  thunder-bolt,  he  withdrew  in  scorn  from 
the  uneven  fight." 

Let  us  see  what  the  evidence  is.  Just  as  the  great  Dis- 
sertation appeared, Boyle's  friends  published"  A  short  Ac- 
count of  Dr.  Bentley's  Humanity  and  Justice."  It  is  con- 
ceived in  a  rancorous  spirit ;  Bentley  is  accused  of  having 
plundered,  in  his  Fragments  of  Callimachus,  some  papers 
which  Thomas  Stanley,  the  editor  of  ^schylus,  left  un- 
published at  his  death ;  and  Bentley's  conduct  to  Boyle 
about  the  manuscript  is  set  forth  as  related  by  the  book- 
seller, Mr.  Bennet.  Now,  in  John  Locke's  correspondence, 
I  find  a  letter  to  him  from  Thomas  Burnet,  formerly  a 
Fellow  of  Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  and  then  Master  of 
Charterhouse,  author  of  a  fantastic  book  on  the  geological 
history  of  the  earth  {Telluris  Theoria  Sacra).     The  date 


v.]  BENTLEY'S  DISSERTATION.  76 

is  Miircli  19,  1G99.  Bcntlcy  had  read  part  of  liis  preface 
to  Burnet  before  it  was  published.  Burnet  liad  now  read 
the  whole,  and  a  great  part  of  the  Dissertation  itself;  also 
the  newly  published  "  Short  Account."  He  is  now  dis- 
posed to  believe  Bennet's  version.  "  I  do  profess,  upon 
second  thoughts  .  .  .  that  his  story  seemeth  the  more 
likely,  if  not  the  most  true,  of  the  two."  As  to  the  Letters 
of  Phalaris,  lie  is  aware  that  sonic  great  scholars  arc  with 
Bentley.  "  But  I  doubt  not,"  he  adds,  "  that  a  greater 
number  will  be  of  another  sentiment,  who  would  not  be 
thought  to  be  of  the  unlearned  tribe."  That,  we  may  be 
sure,  was  what  many  people  were  saying  in  London.  A 
defence  of  Bentley  against  the  "  Short  Account,"  which 
came  out  at  this  time,  has  been  ascribed  to  a  Fellow  of 
Magdalen  College,  O.xford  —  Solomon  Whately,  the  first 
translator  of  Phalaris  into  English. 

The  Boyle  party  had  addressed  themselves  to  the  wits 
and  the  town.  Bentley's  work  had  plenty  of  qualities 
which  could  be  appreciated  in  that  quarter;  but  its  pe- 
culiar strength  lay  in  things  of  which  few  persons  could 
judge.  These  few  were  at  once  convinced  by  it ;  and 
their  authority  helped  to  convince  the  inner  circles  of 
students.  But  the  Boyle  party  still  had  on  their  side  all 
those  who,  regarding  the  contest  as  essentially  an  affair  of 
style,  preferred  Boyle's  style  to  Bentley's.  This  number 
would  include  the  rank  and  file  of  fashion  and  its  depend- 
ents— the  persons  who  wrote  dedications,  and  the  patrons 
in  whose  antechambers  they  waited.  Most  of  them  would 
be  genuinely  unconscious  how  good  Bentley's  answer  was, 
and  their  prepossessions  would  set  strongly  the  other  way. 
So,  while  Bentley  had  persuaded  the  scholars,  it  would  still 
be  the  tone  of  a  largo  and  influential  world  to  say  that, 
though  the  pedant  might  have  brought  cumbrous  proofs 


16  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

of  a  few  trivial  points,  Boyle  had  won  a  signal  victory  in 
"  wit,  taste,  and  breeding." 

Swift's  "  Battle  of  the  Books  "  was  begun  when  he  was 
living  with  Sir  William  Temple  at  Moor  Park  in  1697. 
It  was  suggested  by  a  French  satire,  Coutray's  Histoire 
Poetiquc  de  la  guerre  nouvellement  declaree  entre  les  anciens 
et  les  modcrnes,  and  referred  to  Bentley's  ^srsi  Dissertation, 
which  had  just  appeared.  Temple  was  feeling  sore,  and 
Swift  wished  to  please  him.  But  its  circulation  was  only- 
private  until  it  was  published  with  the  "Tale  of  a  Tub" 
in  1704.  Temple  had  then  been  dead  five  years.  If 
Bentley's  victory  had  then  been  universally  recognised  as 
crushing.  Swift  would  have  been  running  the  risk  of  turn- 
ing the  laugh  against  himself;  and  no  man,  so  fond  of 
wounding,  liked  that  less.  In  the  "Battle  of  the  Books," 
Boyle  is  Achilles,  clad  in  armour  wrought  by  the  gods. 
The  character  ascribed  to  Bentley  and  Wotton  is  expressed 
in  the  Homeric  similes  which  adorn  the  grand  battle  at 
the  end.  "As  a  Woman  in  a  little  House,  that  gets  a 
painful  livelihood  by  spinning;  if  chance  her  Geese  be 
scattered  o'er  the  Common,  she  courses  round  the  plain 
from  side  to  side,  compelling,  here  and  there,  the  stragglers 
to  the  flock ;  they  cackle  loud,  and  flutter  o'er  the  chara- 
pain :  so  Boyle  pursued,  so  fled  this  Pair  of  Friends.  .  .  . 
As  when  a  skilful  Cook  has  truss'd  a  brace  of  Woodcocks, 
he,  with  iron  Skewer,  pierces  the  tender  sides  of  both, 
their  legs  and  wings  close  pinion'd  to  their  ribs ;  so  was 
this  Pair  of  Friends  transfix'd,  till  down  they  fell,  join'd 
in  their  lives,  join'd  in  their  deaths ;  so  closely  join'd  that 
Charon  would  mistake  them  both  for  one,  and  waft  them 
over  Styx  for  half  his  fare."  When  this  was  first  pub- 
lished, Bentley's  second  Dissertation  had  been  five  years 
before  the  public. 


v.]  BENTLEY'S  DISSERTATION.  17 

Against  this  satire — so  purely  popular  that  it  lost  noth- 
ing by  being  whetted  on  the  wrong  edge — \vc  must  set 
two  pieces  of  contemporary  evidence  to  Bentley's  iniinedi- 
ate  success  with  his  own  limited  audience.  In  discussing 
the  age  of  Pythagoras,  he  had  said :  "  I  do  not  pretend  to 
pass  my  own  judgment,  or  to  determine  positively  on  ei- 
ther side;  but  I  submit  the  whole  to  the  censure  of  such 
readers  as  arc  well  versed  in  ancient  learning;  and  partic- 
ularly to  that  incomparable  historian  and  chronologcr,  the 
Right  Reverend  the  Bishop  of  Coventry  and  Litchfield." 
In  the  same  year  (1G99)  Dr.  Lloyd  responded  by  publish- 
ing liis  views  on  the  question,  prefaced  by  a  dedicatory 
epistle  to  Bentlcy.  The  other  testimony  is  of  a  different 
kind,  but  not  less  significant.  "  A  Short  Review  "  of  the 
controversy  appeared  in  1701.  It  was  anonymous.  Dycc 
says  that  a  friend  of  his  possessed  a  copy  in  which  an  ear- 
ly eighteenth  century  hand  had  written,  "  by  Dr.  Atter- 
bury."  The  internal  evidence  leaves  no  doubt  of  this.  I 
may  notice  one  indication  of  it,  which  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  remarked.  "We  have  seen  that  the  "  ilxamina- 
tion"  of  Bentley's  first  essay  was  edited,  and  in  great  part 
written,  by  Atterbury.  This  ends  with  these  words  :  "  I 
fancy  that  the  reader  will  be  glad  to  have  .  .  .  the  Dr.'s 
Picture  in  Miniature,"  rather  "than  that  it  shou'd  be 
again  drawn  out  at  full  length^  The  "picture  in  minia- 
ture" is  the  "Index"  already  mentioned  above.  Now 
the  "  Short  Review  "  ends  with  "  the  Dr.'s  Advantagious 
Character  of  himself  at  full  length.''^  The  writer  of  this 
"  Character  "  is  clearly  going  back  on  his  own  footsteps : 
and  that  writer  can  be  no  other  than  Atterbury.  lie  is 
very  angry,  and  intensely  bitter.  lie  hints  that  Whig 
interest  has  bolstered  up  Bentley  against  Tory  opponents. 
With  almost  incredible  violence,  he   accuses  Bentlcy  of 


18  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

"lying,  stealing,  and  prevaricating"  (p.  12).  He  con- 
trasts tlie  character  of  a  "  Critic  "  with  that  of  a  "  Gentle- 
man." Stress  is  laid  on  the  imputation  that  Bentley  had 
attacked  not  Boyle  alone,  but  also  the  illustrious  society 
in  which  Boyle  had  been  educated.  The  members  of 
that  society  (Atterbury  remarks)  are  not  cut  all  alike,  as 
Bushels  are  by  Winchester-measure:  "But  they  are  men 
of  different  Talents,  Principles,  Humours,  and  Interests, 
who  are  seldom  or  never  united  save  when  some  unrea- 
sonable oppression  from  abroad  fastens  them  together, 
and  consequently  whatever  ill  is  said  of  all  of  them  is 
falsely  said  of  many  of  them."  "  To  answer  the  reflexion 
of  a  private  Gentleman  with  a  general  abuse  of  the  So- 
ciety he  belong'd  to,  is  the  manners  of  a  dirty  Boy  upon 
a  Country-Green."  It  will  not  avail  Bentley  that  his 
friends  "  style  him  a  Living  Library,  a  Walking  Diction- 
ary, and  a  Constellation  of  Criticism."  A  solitary  gleam 
of  humour  varies  this  strain.  Some  wiseacre  had  sug- 
gested that  the  Letters  of  Phalaris  might  corrupt  the 
crowned  heads  of  Europe,  if  kings  should  take  up  the 
Agrigentine  tyrant  as  Alexander  the  Great  took  up 
Homer,  and  put  him  under  their  pillows  at  night.  "  I 
objected" — says  the  author  of  the  "Short  Eeview" — 
"that  now,  since  the  advancement  of  Learning  and  Civil- 
ity in  the  world,  Princes  were  more  refined,  and  would 
be  ashamed  of  such  acts  of  Barbarity  as  Phalaris  was 
guilty  of  in  a  ruder  age."  But  the  alarmist  stuck  to  his 
point;  urging  that  "his  Czarish  Majesty"  (Peter  the 
Great,  then  in  the  twelfth  year  of  his  reign)  might  have 
met  with  the  Letters  of  Phalaris  in  his  travels,  and  that 
"his  curiosity  might  have  led  him  to  make  a  Brazen  Bull, 
when  he  came  home,  to  burn  his  Rebells  in."  The  piece 
ends  by  renewing  the  charge  of  plagiarism  against  Bent- 


v.]  BENTLEY'S  DISSERTATION'.  TJ 

ley.  Considering;  tliat  the  second  Dissertation  liad  now 
been  out  two  years,  tins  is  a  curiosity  of  literature: 
"  Common  Pilferers  tvill  still  (jo  on  in  their  trade,  even 
after  they  have  suffcr\l  for  it.'''' 

But,  when  Bentley's  Dissertation  liad  been  publisliod 
for  half  a  century,  surely  there  can  have  been  no  lonj^cr 
any  doubt  as  to  the  completeness  of  his  victory  ?  We 
shall  see.  In  1749,  seven  years  after  Bontlcy's  death,  an 
English  Translation  of  the  Letters  of  Phalaris  was  pub- 
lished by  Thomas  Francklin.  He  had  been  educated  at 
Westminster  School,  and  was  then  a  lesident  Fellow  of 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge  ;  his  translation  of  Sophocles 
is  still  well  known.  Uc  dedicates  his  version  of  Phalaris 
to  John,  Earl  of  Orrery,  alluding  to  the  esteem  in  which 
the  Greek  author  had  been  held  by  the  late  Lord  Orrery 
(Charles  Boyle).  lie  then  refers  to  "  the  celebrated  dis- 
pute "  between  Boyle  and  Bentley  about  these  Letters. 
"Doctor  Bentley,"  he  allows,  "was  always  look'd  on  as 
a  man  of  wit  and  parts."  On  the  other  hand,  Francklin 
vindicates  Boyle  against  "  the  foolish  opinion  "  that  he 
had  been  helped  by  "some  men  of  distinguished  merit" 
in  his  book  against  Bentley.  Had  this  been  so,  those 
men  would  have  been  eager  to  claim  their  share  in  the 
reputation  acquired  by  it.  As  they  have  not  done  so, 
there  can  be  no  reason  why  Boyle's  "  claim  to  the  de- 
served applause  it  has  met  with  should  ever  for  the  future 
be  call'd  in  question."  ''  I  have  not  entcr'd  into  any  of 
the  points  of  the  controversy,"  Francklin  proceeds,  "  as  it 
would  be  a  disagreeable  as  well  as  unnecessary  task,  but 
shall  only  observe  that,  tho'  several  very  specious  argu- 
ments are  brour/ht  by  Doctor  Bentley,  the  strongest  of  them 
do  only  affect  jM^'ticular  epistles;  lohich,  as  Mr.  Boyle  ob- 
serves, do  not  hurt  the  ichole   body;  for  in  a  collection 


80  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

of  pieces  that  have  no  dependence  on  each  other,  as  epis- 
tles, epigrams,  fables,  the  first  number  may  be  encreased 
by  the  wantonness  and  vanity  of  imitators  in  aftertimes, 
and  yet  the  hook  he  authentic  in  the  main,  and  an  original 
stilly 

Francklin  vvas  not  outraging  the  sense  of  a  learned 
community  by  writing  thus.  In  the  very  next  year  (1750) 
he  was  elected  to  the  Regius  Professorship  of  Greek. 
Nothing  could  show  more  conclusively  the  average  state 
of  literary  opinion  on  the  controversy  half  a  century  after 
it  took  place.  But  there  is  evidence  which  carries  i;s  fifty 
years  lower  still.  In  1804  Cumberland,  Bentley's  grand- 
son, was  writing  his  Memoirs.  "I  got  together"  (he 
says)  "  all  the  tracts  relative  to  the  controversy  between 
Boyle  and  Bentley,  omitting  none  even  of  the  authorities 
and  passages  they  referred  to,  and  having  done  this,  I 
compressed  the  reasonings  on  both  sides  into  a  kind  of 
statement  and  report  upon  the  question  in  dispute ;  and 
if,  in  the  result,  my  judgment  went  with  him  to  whom 
my  inclination  lent,  no  learned  critic  in  the  2^resent  age  will 
condemn  me  for  the  decision."  Such  was  the  apologetic 
tone  which  Bentley's  grandson  still  thought  due  to  the 
world,  even  after  Tyrwhitt  had  Avrittcn  of  the  "  thunder- 
bolt," and  Porson  of  the  "  immortal  Dissertation  !"  The 
theory  that  Bentley  had  an  immediate  triumph  does  not 
represent  the  general  impression  of  his  own  age,  but  re- 
flects the  later  belief  of  critical  scholars,  who  felt  the 
crushing  power  of  Bentley's  reply,  and  imagined  that 
every  one  must  have  felt  it  when  it  first  appeared.  The 
tamer  account  of  the  matter,  besides  being  the  truer,  is 
also  far  more  really  interesting.  It  shows  how  long  the 
clearest  truth  may  have  to  wait. 

Bentley's  Dissertation  was  translated  into  Latin  by  the 


v.]  DENTLEY'S  DISSERTATION.  81 

Dutch  scholar,  John  Daniel  Lcnncp,  who  ciiitcd  the  Letters 
of  Phalaris.  After  Lenncp's  deatli,  the  translation  and 
the  edition  were  published  together  by  Valckenaer  (1111). 
The  Dissertation  was  subsequently  rendered  into  German, 
with  notes,  by  Ribbeck;  and  only  seven  years  ago  (1874) 
the  English  text  of  the  Dissertation  (both  in  its  first  and 
in  its  second  form)  was  rc-issucd  in  Germany,  with  Intro- 
duction and  notes,  by  Dr.  "Wilhclm  Wagner.  It  has  thus 
been  the  destiny  of  Bentley's  work,  truly  a  work  of  gen- 
ius, to  become  in  the  best  sense  monumental.  In  a  litera- 
ture of  which  continual  supersession  is  the  law,  it  has  owed 
this  permanent  place  to  its  triple  character  as  a  storehouse 
of  erudition,  an  example  of  method,  and  a  masterpiece  of 
controversy.  Isaac  Disraeli  justly  said  of  it  that  "  it  heaves 
with  the  workings  of  a  master  spirit."  Bentley's  learning 
everywhere  bears  the  stamp  of  an  original  mind ;  and,  even 
where  it  can  be  corrected  by  modern  lights,  luxs  the  lasting 
interest  of  showing  the  process  by  which  an  intellect  of 
rare  acuteness  reached  approximately  true  conclusions.  As 
a  consecutive  argument  it  represents  the  first  sustained  ap- 
plication of  strict  reasoning  to  questions  of  ancient  litera- 
ture— a  domain  in  which  his  adversaries,  echoing  the  sen- 
timent of  their  day,  declared  that  "  all  is  but  a  lucky  gness." 
As  a  controversial  reply,  it  is  little  less  than  marvellous,  if 
we  remember  that  his  very  clever  assailants  had  been  un- 
scrupulous in  their  choice  of  weapons — freely  using  every 
sort  of  insinuation,  however  irrelevant  or  gross,  which  could 
tell — and  that  Bontlcy  repulsed  them  at  every  point,  with- 
out once  violating  the  usages  of  legitimate  warfare.  "While 
he  demolishes,  one  by  one,  the  whole  scries  of  their  rele- 
vant remark^  he  steadily  preserves  his  own  dignity  by 
simply  turning  back  upon  them  the  dishonour  of  their 
own  calumnies  and  the  ridicule  of  their  own  impertinence. 


82  liENTLEY.  [chap. 

Witli  a  dexterity  aliin  to  that  of  a  consummate  debater, 
he  wields  the  power  of  retort  in  such  a  manner  that  he 
appears  to  be  hardly  more  than  the  amused  spectator  of  a 
logical  recoil. 

Shortly  before  Swift  described  Boyle  as  Achilles,  poor 
Achilles  was  writing  from  Ireland,  in  some  perturbation  of 
spirit,  to  those  gods  who  were  hard  at  work  on  his  armour, 
and  confiding  his  hopes  "  that  it  Avould  do  no  harm."  It 
did  not  do  much.  This  was  the  first  controversy  in  Eng- 
lish letters  that  had  made  anything  like  a  public  stir,  and 
it  is  pleasant  to  think  that  Achilles  and  his  antagonist  ap- 
pear to  have  been  good  friends  afterwards :  if  any  ill-will 
lingered,  it  was  rather  in  the  bosoms  of  the  Myrmidons. 
Dr.  WiUiam  King,  who  had  helped  to  make  the  mischief, 
never  forgave  Bentley  for  his  alkisions  to  "Ilumty-dum- 
ty,"  and  satirised  him  in  ten  "Dialogues  of  the  Dead" 
(on  Lucian's  model) — a  title  which  suits  their  dulness. 
Bentley  is  Bentivoglio,  a  critic  who  knows  that  the  first 
weather-cock  was  set  up  by  the  Argonauts  and  that  cush- 
ions were  invented  by  Sardanapalus.  Salter  mentions  a 
tradition,  current  in  1777,  that  Boyle,  after  he  became 
Lord  Orrer}^,  visited  Bentley  at  Trinity  College,  Cam- 
bridge. There  is  contemporary  evidence,  not,  indeed,  for 
such  personal  intercourse,  but  for  the  existence  of  mutual 
esteem.  In  1721  a  weekly  paper,  The  Spy,  attacked 
Bentley  in  an  article  mainly  patched  up  out  of  thefts 
from  Boyle's  book  on  Phalaris,  and  a  reply  appeared,  call- 
ed "  The  Apothecary's  Defence  of  Dr.  Bentley,  in  answer 
to  the  Spy."  "  Let  me  now  tell  it  the  Spy  as  a  secret," 
says  the  Apothecary,  "  that  Dr.  Bentley  has  the  greatest 
deference  for  his  noble  antagonist  (Boyle),  both  as  a  per- 
son of  eminent  parts  and  quality ;  and  I  dare  say  his  noble 
antagonist  thinks  of  Dr.  Bentley  as  of  a  person  as  great 


v.]  BENTLEY'S  DISSERTATION.  83 

in  critical  learning  as  England  has  boasted  of  for  many  a 
century."  Wo  remember  Bentlcy's  description  of  Boyle 
as  *'  a  young  gentleman  of  great  liopes,"  and  gladly  believe 
that  the  Apothecary  was  as  -well  informed  as  his  tone 
would  imply.  Atterbury  was  in  later  life  on  excellent 
terms  with  Bentley. 

It  is  long  enough  now  since  "  the  sprinkling  of  a  little 
dust"  allayed  the  last  throb  of  angry  passion  that  had 
been  roused  by  the  Battle  of  the  Books  :  but  wc  look  back 
across  the  years,  and  see  more  than  the  persons  of  the 
quarrel ;  it  was  the  beginning  of  a  new  epoch  in  criticism ; 
and  it  is  marked  by  a  work  which,  to  this  hour,  is  classical 
in  a  twofold  sense,  in  relation  to  the  literature  of  England 
and  to  the  philology  of  Europe. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

TRINITY    COLLEaE,  CAMBRIDGE. 

Towards  the  end  of  1699,  abont  eiglit  montlas  after  the 
publication  of  Bentley's  Dissertation  on  Phalaris,  the  Mas- 
tership of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  became  vacant  by 
the  removal  of  Dr.  Mountague  to  the  Deanery  of  Durham. 
The  nomination  of  a  successor  rested  with  six  Commission- 
ers, to  whom  King  William  had  entrusted  the  duty  of  ad- 
vising in  the  ecclesiastical  and  academic  patronage  of  the 
Crown.  They  were  Archbishops  Teuison  and  Sharp,  with 
Bishops  Lloyd,  Burnet,  Patrick,  and  Moore  —  the  last- 
named  in  place  of  Stillingfleet,  who  had  died  in  April, 
1699.  On  their  unanimous  recommendation,  the  post 
was  given  to  Bentley.  He  continued  to  hold  the  office 
of  King's  Librarian;  but  his  home  thenceforth  was  at 
Cambridge. 

No  places  in  England  have  suffered  so  little  as  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  from  the  causes  which  tend  to  merge  local 
colour  in  a  monochrome.  The  academic  world  which 
Bentley  entered  is  still,  after  a  hundred  and  eighty  years, 
comparatively  near  to  us,  both  in  form  and  in  spirit.  The 
visitor  in  1700,  whom  the  coach  conveyed  in  twelve  hours 
from  the  "Bull"  in  Bishopsgate  Street  to  the  "Rose"  in 
the  Market-place  of  Cambridge,  found  a  scene  of  which  the 


CHAP.  VI.]  TRLVITY  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE.  186 

essential  features  were  the  same  as  they  are  to-day.  The 
most  distinctive  among  the  older  buildinrrs  of  the  Uni- 
versity had  long  been  such  as  \\c  now  sec  them  ;  already 
for  nearly  two  centuries  the  chapel  of  King's  College  had 
been  standing  in  the  completeness  of  its  majestic  beauty ; 
the  charm  of  the  past  could  already  be  felt  in  the  quad- 
rangles and  cloisters  of  many  an  ancient  house,  in  pleasant 
shades  and  smooth  lawns  by  the  quiet  river,  in  gardens 
with  margins  of  bright  flowers  bordering  time -stained 
walls,  over  which  the  sound  of  bells  from  old  towers  came 
like  an  echo  of  the  middle  age,  in  all  the  haunts  which 
tradition  linked  with  domestic  memories  of  cherished 
names.  It  was  only  the  environment  of  the  University 
that  was  decidedly  unlike  the  present.  In  the  narrow 
streets  of  the  little  town,  where  feeble  oil-lamps  flickered 
at  night,  the  projecting  upper  stories  of  the  houses  on 
either  side  approached  each  other  so  nearly  overhead  as 
partly  to  supply  the  place  of  umbrellas.  The  few  shops 
that  existed  were  chiefly  open  booth.s,  with  the  goods  dis- 
played on  a  board  which  also  served  as  a  shutter  to  close 
the  front.  That  great  wilderness  of  peat-moss  which  once 
stretched  from  Cambridge  to  the  Wash  had  not  yet  been 
drained  with  the  thoroughness  which  has  since  reclaimed 
two  thousand  square  miles  of  the  best  corn-land  in  Eng- 
land; tracts  of  fen  still  touched  the  outskirts  of  the  town; 
snipe  and  marsh-fowl  were  plentiful  in  the  present  sub- 
urbs. To  the  south  and  south-east  the  country  was  unen- 
closed, as  it  remained,  in  great  measure,  down  to  the  be- 
ginning of  this  century.  A  horseman  might  ride  for  miles 
without  seeing  a  fence. 

The  broadest  difference  between  the  University  life  of 
Bentley's  time  and  of  our  own  might  perhaps  be  roughly 
described  by  saying  that,  for  the  older  men,  it  had  more 
5 


86  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

resemblance,  both  in  its  rigours  and  in  its  laxities,  to  the 
life  of  a  monaster}',  and,  for  the  younger  men,  to  the  life 
of  a  school.  The  College  day  began  with  morning  chapel, 
usually  at  six.  Breakfast  was  not  a  regular  meal,  but, 
from  about  1700,  it  was  often  taken  at  a  coffee-house 
where  the  London  newspapers  could  be  read.  Morning 
lectures  began  at  seven  or  eight  in  the  College  hall. 
Tables  were  set  apart  for  diiierent  subjects.  At  "  the 
logick  table"  one  lecturer  is  expounding  Duncan's  trea- 
tise, while  another,  at  "the  cthick  table,"  is  interpreting 
Puffendorf  on  the  Duty  of  a  Man  and  a  Citizen ;  classics 
and  mathematics  engage  other  groups.  The  usual  College 
dinner-hour,  which  had  long  been  11  a.m.,  had  advanced 
before  1720  to  noon.  The  afternoon  disputations  in  the 
Schools  often  drew  large  audiences  to  hear  "respondent" 
and  "opponent"  discuss  such  themes  as  "Natural  Phi- 
losophy does  not  tend  to  atheism,"  or  "  Matter  cannot 
think."  Evening  chapel  was  usually  at  five ;  a  slight 
supper  was  provided  in  hall  at  seven  or  eight;  and  at 
eight  in  winter,  or  nine  in  summer,  the  College  gates 
were  locked.  All  students  lodged  within  College  walls. 
Some  tutors  held  evening  lectures  in  their  rooms.  Dis- 
cipline was  stern.  The  birch-rod  which  was  still  hung  up 
at  the  butteries  typified  a  power  in  the  College  dean  sim- 
ilar to  that  which  the  fasces  announced  in  the  Roman  Con- 
sul ;  and  far  on  in  the  seventeenth  century  it  was  some- 
times found  to  be  more  than  an  austere  symbol,  when  a 
youth  showed  himself,  as  Anthony  Wood  hris  it,  "too 
forward,  pragmatic,  and  conceited."  Boating,  in  the  ath- 
letic sense,  was  hardly  known  till  about  1820,  and  the  first 
record  of  cricket  in  its  present  form  is  said  to  be  the 
match  of  Kent  against  England  in  1746;  but  the  under- 
graduates of  Bentley's  day  played  tennis,  racquets,  and 


Ti.]  iniNITV  (OI.IJKIE,  CAMBRIOrJE.  87 

bowlii;  they  rang  pcals  on  cluircli-bclls;  they  rravo  con- 
certs; nay,  wc  hoai-  that  the  votaries  "of  Ilanilel  and  Co- 
relli  "  (the  Italian  violinist)  were  not  less  earnest  than  those 
of  Newton  and  Locke.  In  Bcntley's  Cambridge  the  sense 
of  a  corporate  life  was  strengthened  by  continuous  resi- 
dence. Many  Fellows  of  Colleges,  and  some  undergrad- 
uates, never  left  the  University  from  one  year's  end  to 
another.  An  excursion  to  the  Lath  or  to  Epsom  Wells 
was  the  equivalent  of  a  modern  vacation-tour.  No  read- 
ing-party had  yet  penetrated  to  the  Lakes  or  the  High- 
lands. No  summer  fetes  yet  brought  an  influx  of  guests; 
the  nearest  ap[)roach  to  anything  of  the  kind  was  the 
annual  Sturbridgc  Fair  in  September,  lield  in  fields  near 
the  Cam,  just  outside  the  town.  The  seclusion  of  the 
University  world  is  curiously  illustrated  by  the  humorous 
speeches  which  old  custom  allowed  on  certain  public  occa- 
sions. The  sallies  of  the  academic  satirist  were  to  the 
Cambridge  of  that  period  very  much  what  the  Old  Com- 
edy was  for  the  Athens  of  Aristophanes.  The  citizens  of 
a  compact  commonwealth  could  be  sufficiently  entertained 
by  lively  criticism  of  domestic  aiiairs,  or  by  pointed  allu- 
sions to  the  conduct  of  familiar  persons. 

In  relation  to  the  studies  of  Cambridge  the  moment  of 
Bcntlcy's  arrival  was  singularly  opportune.  The  theories 
of  Descartes  had  just  been  exploded  by  that  Newtonian 
philosopliy  which  lieiitlcy's  Boyle  Lectures  had  first  popu- 
larised;  in  alliance  with  Newton's  principles,  a  mathemati- 
cal school  was  growing ;  and  other  sciences  also  were  be- 
ginning to  flourish.  Between  1702  and  1727  the  Univer- 
sity was  provided  with  chairs  of  Astronomy,  Anatomy, 
Geology,  and  Botany;  whilst  the  academic  study  of  Medi- 
cine was  also  placed  on  a  better  footing.  George  I.  found- 
ed the  chair  of  Modern  Historv  in  1724.     For  classical 


88  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

learning  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  had 
been  a  somewhat  sterile  period.  There  was  thus  a  two- 
fold function  for  a  nian  of  comprehensive  vigour,  holding 
an  eminent  station  in  the  University — to  foster  the  new 
learning,  and  to  reanimate  the  old.  Bentley  proved  him- 
self equal  to  both  tasks. 

On  February  1,  "IVOO,  the  Fellows  of  Trinity  College 
met  in  the  chapel  for  the  purpose  of  admitting  their 
new  Master,  Bentley  took  the  Latin  oath,  promising 
(amongst  other  undertakings)  that  he  would  "observe 
in  all  things  the  Statutes  of  the  College,  and  interpret 
them  truly,  sincerely,  and  according  to  their  grammatical 
sense ;"  that  he  would  "  rule  and  protect  all  and  singular 
Fellows  and  Scholars,  Pensioners,  Sizars,  Snbsizars,  and 
the  other  members  of  the  College,  according  to  the  same 
Statutes  and  Laws,  without  respect  of  birth,  condition,  or 
person,  without  favour  or  ill-will ;"  that,  in  the  event  of 
his  resigning  or  being  deposed,  he  would  restore  all  that 
was  due  to  the  College  *'  without  controversy  or  tergiver- 
sation." He  was  then  installed  in  the  Master's  seat,  and 
his  reign  began. 

Bentley  had  just  completed  his  thirty-eighth  year.  He 
had  a  genius  for  scholarship,  which  was  already  recog- 
nised. He  had  also  that  which  does  not  always  accom- 
pany it,  a  large  enthusiasm  for  the  advancement  of  learn- 
ing. His  powers  of  work  were  extraordinary,  and  his 
physical  strength  was  equal  to  almost  any  demand  which 
even  he  could  make  upon  it.  Seldom  has  a  man  of  equal 
gifts  been  placed  at  so  early  an  age  in  a  station  which 
offered  such  opportunities. 

Henry  VHL  founded  Trinity  College  only  a  few  weeks 
before  his  death.  Two  establishments,  each  more  than 
two  centuries  old,  then  stood  on  the  site  of  the  present 


vi.J  TKIMTV  CULLLUE,  O-MHIMDCE.  M 

Great  Court.  One  of  these  was  Michael-house,  founded 
in  1324  by  llervey  de  Stanton,  Chancellor  to  Edward  II. 
The  other,  King's  llall,  was  founded  in  1337  by  Edward 
III.,  who  assigned  it  to  the  King's  Scholars,  thirty  or  for- 
ty students,  maintained  at  Cambridge  by  a  royal  bounty, 
first  granted  by  Edward  11.  in  131G.  Thus,  whilst  Mi- 
chael-house was  the  older  College,  King's  Hall  represeiitod 
the  older  foundation.  When  Henry  YIII.  united  them, 
the  new  name,  "Trinity  College,"  was  probably  taken 
from  Michael-honso,  which,  among  other  titles,  had  been 
dedicated  to  the  Holy  and  Undivided  Trinity.  The  Ref- 
ormation had  been  a  crisis  in  the  history  of  the  English 
Universities.  In  154G  their  fortunes  were  almost  at  the 
lowest  ebb.  That  fact  adds  signiticancc  to  the  terms  in 
which  Henry's  charter  traces  the  noble  plan  of  Trinity 
College.  The  new  house  is  to  be  a  "  college  of  literature, 
the  sciences,  philosophy,  good  arts,  and  sacred  Theology." 
It  is  founded  "to  the  glory  and  honour  of  Almighty  God 
and  the  Holy  and  Undivided  Trinity;  for  the  amplifica- 
tion and  establishment  of  the  Christian  faith  ;  the  extirpa- 
tion of  heresy  and  false  opinion  ;  the  increase  and  contin- 
uance of  Divine  Learning  and  all  kinds  of  good  letters; 
the  knowledge  of  the  tongues;  the  education  of  youth  in 
piety,  virtue,  learning,  and  science ;  the  relief  of  the  poor, 
destitute,  and  afilictcd ;  the  prosperity  of  the  Church  of 
Christ ;  and  the  conmion  good  of  his  kingdom  and 
subjects." 

The  King  had  died  before  this  conception  could  be 
embodied  in  legislative  enactment.  Statutes  were  made 
for  Trinity  College  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.,  and 
again  in  the  reign  of  Mary.  Manuscript  copies  of  these 
are  preserved  in  the  Muniment-room  of  the  College ;  but 
the  tirst  printed  code  of  Statutes  was  that  given  in  the 


90  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

second  year  of  Elizabeth.  These  governed  Trinity  Col- 
lege until  a  revision  produced  the  "Victorian"  Statutes 
of  1844.  Two  features  of  the  Elizabethan  Statutes  de- 
serve notice.  All  the  sixty  Fellowships  are  left  open, 
without  appropriation  to  counties — whilst  at  every  other 
Cambridge  College,  except  King's,  territorial  restrictions 
existed  till  this  century.  And,  besides  the  College  Lect- 
urers, maintenance  is  assigned  to  three  University  Eeaders, 
These  are  the  Regius  Professors  of  Divinity,  Hebrew,  and 
Greek,  who  are  still  on  Henry  VHI.'s  foundation.  Thus, 
from  its  origin,  Trinity  College  was  specially  associated 
with  two  ideas:  free  competition  of  merit;  and  provis- 
ion, not  only  for  collegiate  tuition,  but  also  for  properly 
academic  teaching. 

During  the  first  century  of  its  life — from  the  reign  of 
Edward  VI.  to  the  Civil  "Wars — the  prosperity  of  Trinity 
College  was  brilliant  and  unbroken.  The  early  days  of 
the  Great  Rebellion  were  more  disastrous  for  Cambridge 
than  for  Oxford ;  yet  at  Cambridge,  as  at  Oxford,  the 
period  of  the  Commonwealth  was  one  in  which  learning 
throve.  Trinity  College  was  "purged"  of  its  Royalist 
members  in  1645.  Dr.  Thomas  Hill  then  became  Master. 
He  proved  an  excellent  administrator.  Isaac  Barrow,  who 
was  an  undergraduate  of  the  College,  had  written  an  exer- 
cise on  "the  Gunpowder  Treason,"  in  which  his  Cavalier 
sympathies  were  frankly  avowed.  Some  of  the  Fellows 
wore  so  much  incensed  that  they  moved  for  his  expulsion, 
when  Hill  silenced  them  with  the  words,  "Barrow  is  a 
better  man  than  any  of  us."  The  last  Master  of  Trinity 
before  the  Restoration  was  Dr.  John  Wilkins,  brother-in- 
law  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  and  formerly  Warden  of  Wadham 
College,  Oxford ;  who  was  "always  zealous  to  promote 
worthy  men  and  generous  designs."     He   was  shrewdly 


VI.]  TRINITY  COLLEGE,  CAMnRIDr.E.  01 

suspcctuJ  of  bcini^  a  Uoyalist,  and  Croimvell  Irad  been  wont 
to  greet  bis  visits  tbus:  "  Wbat,  brutbcr  Wilkins,  I  sup 
pose  you  are  come  to  ask  sometbing  or  otbcr  in  favour  of 
tbc  Malignants?"  But  bis  influence  is  said  to  bavc  decided 
tbe  Protector  against  confiscating  tbc  revenues  of  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  to  pay  bis  army.* 

In  tbc  space  of  forty  years  between  tbe  Restoration  and 
Benticy's  arrival,  Trinity  College  bad  suffered  some  de- 
cline ;  not  tbrougb  any  default  of  eminent  abilities  or 
wortliy  cbaractcrs,  but  partly  from  general  influences  of 
tlie  time,  partly  from  tbc  occasional  want  of  a  sufficiently 
firm  rule.  Dr.  Jobn  Pearson — tbe  autbor  of  tbc  treatise 
on  tbe  Creed — was  Master  of  Trinity  from  1GG2  to  1G73. 
A  contemporary — wboso  words  plainly  sbow  tbc  contrast 
witli  Bcntley  wbicb  was  in  bis  mind — said  tbat  Pearson 
was  "a  man  tbc  least  apt  to  encroacb  upon  anytbing  tbat 
belonged  to  tbe  Fellows,  but  treated  tbem  all  witb  abun- 
dance of  civility  and  condescension."  "  Tbe  Fellows,  be 
bas  beard,  ask'd  bim  wbetbcr  be  wanted  anytbing  in  bis 
lodge — table-linen,  or  tbe  like;  'No,'saitb  tbe  good  man, 
*I  tbink  not;  tbis  I  bavc  will  serve  yet;'  and  tbougb 
pressed  by  liis  wife  to  bavc  new,  especially  as  it  was  offer- 
ed bim,  be  would  refuse  it  wbile  tbe  old  was  fit  for  use. 
lie  was  very  well  contented  witb  wbat  tlie  College  allowed 
bim." 

*  See  a  letter,  preserved  in  the  llunimcnt-rooiu  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  and  published  by  Mr.  W.  Aldis  Wright  in  Kotcs  and 
Querio),  Aug.  13,  188L  I  may  remark  that  Dr.  Creyghton,  whose 
recollections  in  old  age  the  letter  reports,  errs  in  one  detail.  It  must 
have  been  as  Warden  of  Wadham,  not  as  Master  of  Trinity,  that  Wil- 
kins  interceded  against  the  confiscation.  Oliver  Cromwell  died  Sept. 
3,  1G58.  It  was  early  in  1(550  that  Richard  Cromwell  appointed 
Wilkins  to  Trinity  College. 


92  BENTLEY.  [ckap. 

Pearson  was  snccceded  in  the  Mastership  by  Isaac  Bar- 
row, who  held  it  for  only  four  years — from  1673  to  his 
death  in  16*77.  Both  as  a  mathematician  and  as  a  theo- 
logian he  stood  in  the  foremost  ranlc.  In  1660  he  was 
elected  "without  a  competitor"  to  the  professorship  of 
Greek.  Thus  a  singular  triad  of  distinctions  is  united  in 
his  person;  as  Lucasian  professor  of  Mathematics,  he  was 
the  predecessor  of  Newton  ;  at  Trinity  College,  of  Bentley ; 
and,  in  his  other  chair,  of  Porson.  In  early  boyhood  he 
was  chiefly  remarkable  for  his  pugnacity,  and  for  his  aver- 
sion to  books.  When  he  was  at  Charterhouse, "  his  greatest 
recreation  was  in  such  sports  as  brought  on  fighting  among 
tlie  boys;  in  his  after-time  a  very  great  courage  remain- 
ed ..  .  yet  he  had  perfectly  subdued  all  inclination  to 
quarrelling;  but  a  negligence  of  his  cloaths  did  always 
continue  with  him."  As  Master  of  Trinity,  "  besides  the 
particular  assistance  be  gave  to  many  in  their  studies,  he 
concerned  himself  in  everything  that  was  for  the  interest 
of  his  College." 

The  next  two  Masters  were  men  of  a  different  type. 
John  North  was  the  fifth  son  of  Dudley,  Lord  North,  and 
younger  brother  of  Francis  North,  first  Baron  Guilford, 
Lord  Keeper  in  the  reigns  of  Charles  II.  and  James  II. 
He  had  been  a  Fellow  of  Jesus  College,  and  in  1677  he 
was  appointed  Master  of  Trinity.  John  North  was  a  man 
of  cultivated  tastes  and  considerable  accomplishments,  of 
a  gentle,  very  sensitive  disposition,  and  of  a  highly  nervous 
temperament.  Even  after  he  was  a  Fellow  of  his  College, 
he  once  mistook  a  moonlit  towel  for  "  an  enorm  spectre ;" 
and  his  brother  remembers  how,  at  a  still  later  period, 
"one  Mr.  Wagstaff,  a  little  gentleman,  had  an  express  au- 
dience, at  a  very  good  dinner,  on  the  subject  of  spectres, 
and  much  was  said  pro  and  con^     On  one  occasion  he 


Ti.]  TRINITY  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE.  »3 

travelled  into  "Wales,  "to  visit  and  be  possessed  of  his 
sinecure  of  Llandiiion."  "Tlic  parishioners  came  about 
liiin  and  liuiTfjcd  him,  calling  him  their  pastor,  and  tellinij 
him  they  were  his  sheep;"  when  "he  t^ot  him  back  to  his 
College  as  fast  as  he  could."  In  the  Mastership  of  Trinity 
North  showed  no  weakness.  Certain  abuses  had  begun  to 
infect  the  election  to  Fellowships,  and  he  made  a  vigor- 
ous effort  to  remedy  them.  He  was  no  less  firm  in  his 
endeavours  to  revive  discipline,  which  had  been  somewhat 
relaxed  since  the  Restoration.  One  day  he  was  in  the  act 
of  admonishing  two  students,  when  he  fell  down  in  a  fit. 
The  two  young  men  were  "very  helpful"  in  carrying  him 
to  the  Lodge.  Paralysis  of  one  side  ensued,  lie  lived 
for  upwards  of  three  years,  but  could  thenceforth  take 
little  part  in  College  affairs ;  and  died,  six  years  after  ho 
liad  become  Master,  in  1683. 

Dr.  John  Mountague,  North's  successor,  was  the  fourth 
son  of  Edward,  first  Earl  of  Sandwich.  The  little  that  is 
known  of  Mountague  exhibits  him  as  an  amiable  person 
of  courtly  manners,  who  passed  decently  along  the  path 
of  rapid  preferment  which  then  awaited  a  young  divine 
with  powerful  connexions.  Having  first  been  Master  of 
Sherburn  Hospital  at  Durham,  he  was  appointed,  in  1GS3, 
to  the  Mastership  of  Trinity.  His  easy  temper  and  kind- 
ly disposition  made  him  popular  with  the  Fellows — all 
the  more  so,  perhaps,  if  his  conscience  was  less  exacting 
than  that  of  the  highly-strung,  anxious  North.  In  1699 
he  returned,  as  Dean  of  Durham,  to  the  scene  of  his  ear- 
lier duties,  and  lived  to  see  the  fortunes  of  the  College 
under  Bentley.  He  died  in  London,  in  1728.  There  was 
a  double  disadvantage  for  Bentley  in  coming  after  such  a 
man ;  the  personal  contrast  was  marked ;  and  those  ten- 
dencies which  North  strove  to  repress  had  not  suffered, 


94  BENTLEY.  [chap.  vi. 

under  Mountague,  from  any  interference  wliicli  exceeded 
the  limits  of  good  breeding. 

In  the  fore-front  of  the  difficulties  which  met  Bentley 
Dr.  Monk  puts  the  fact  that  he  "  had  no  previous  con- 
nexion with  the  College  whicli  he  was  sent  to  govern ; 
he  was  himself  educated  in  another  and  a  rival  society." 
Now,  without  questioning  that  there  were  murmurs  on 
this  score,  I  think  that  we  shall  overrate  the  influence 
of  such  a  consideration  if  we  fail  to  observe  what  the 
precedents  had  been  up  to  that  date.  Bentley  was  the 
twentieth  Master  since  1546.  Of  his  nineteen  predeces- 
sors, only  five  had  been  educated  at  Trinity  College. 
To  take  the  four  immediately  preceding  cases,  Barrow 
and  Mountague  had  been  of  Trinity,  but  Pearson  had 
been  of  King's,  and  North  of  Jesus.  Since  Bentley's 
time  every  Master  has  been  of  Trinity.  But  it  cannot 
be  said  that  any  established  usage  then  existed  of  which 
Bentley's  appointment  was  a  breach.  And  young  though 
he  was  for  such  a  post — thirty-eight — he  was  not  young 
beyond  recent  example.  Pearson,  when  appointed,  had 
been  forty  ;  Barrow,  forty-three  ;  North,  thirty-three  ;  and 
Mountague,  only  twenty-eight.  Thus  the  choice  was  not 
decidedly  exceptional  in  either  of  the  two  points  which 
might  make  it  appear  so  now.  But  the  task  which,  at 
that  moment,  awaited  a  Master  of  Trinity  was  one  which 
demanded  a  rare  union  of  qualities.  How  would  Bentley 
succeed?  A  few  readers  of  the  Dissertation  on  Phalaris, 
that  mock  despot  of  Agrigentum,  might  tremble  a  little, 
perhaps,  at  the  thought  that  the  scholarly  author  appeared 
to  have  a  robust  sense  of  what  a  real  tyrant  should  be,  and  a 
cordial  contempt  for  all  shams  in  the  part.  It  was  natural, 
however,  to  look  with  hope  to  his  mental  grasp  and  vigour, 
his  energy,  his  penetration,  his  genuine  love  of  learning. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

BENTLEY    AS    MASTER    OF    TRIXITY. 

"NViiEx  Bcntlcy  entered  on  his  new  office,  lie  was  in  one 
of  those  positions  where  a  great  deal  may  depend  on  the 
impression  made  at  starting.  lie  did  not  hegin  very 
happily.  One  of  his  first  acts  was  to  demand  part  of  a 
College  dividend  due  by  usage  to  his  predecessor,  Dr. 
Mountague,  wlio  closed  the  discussion  by  waiving  his 
claim.  Then  the  Master's  Lodge  required  repairs,  and 
the  Seniority  (the  eight  Senior  Fellows)  had  voted  a  sum 
for  that  purpose,  but  the  works  were  executed  in  a  man- 
ner which  ultimately  cost  about  four  times  the  amount. 
It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  comments  and  comparisons 
to  which  such  things  would  give  rise  in  a  society  not, 
perhaps,  too  favourably  prepossessed  towards  their  new 
chief.  But  Bentley's  first  year  at  Trinity  is  marked  by 
at  least  one  event  altogether  fortunate  —  his  marriage. 
At  Bishop  Stillingfleet's  house  he  had  met  Miss  Joanna 
Bernard,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Bernard,  of  Brampton, 
Huntingdonshire.  "  Being  now  raised  to  a  station  of  dig- 
nity and  consequence,  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  ob- 
ject of  his  affections,"  says  Dr.  Monk — who  refuses  to 
believe  a  story  that  the  engagement  was  nearly  broken 
off  owing  to  a  doubt  expressed  by  Bentley  with  regard 
to  the  authority  of  the  Book  of  Daniel.     "NVhiston  has 


96  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

told  ns  what  this  alleged  doubt  was.  Nebuchadnezzar's 
golden  image  is  described  as  sixty  cubits  bigb  and  six 
cubits  broad ;  now,  said  Bentley,  this  is  out  of  all  pro- 
portion ;  it  ought  to  have  been  ten  cubits  broad  at  least ; 
"  which  made  the  good  lady  weep."  The  lovers'  differ- 
ence was  possibly  arranged  on  the  basis  suggested  by 
AVhiston  —  that  the  sixty  cubits  included  the  pedestal. 
Some  letters  which  passed  between  Dr.  Bentley  and  Miss 
Bernard,  before  their  marriage,  are  still  extant,  and  have 
been  printed  by  Dr.  Luard  at  the  end  of  Rud's  Diary. 
In  the  Library  of  Trinity  College  is  preserved  a  small 
printed  and  interleaved  "Ephemeris"  for  the  year  1701. 
The  blank  page  opposite  the  month  of  January  has  the 
following  entries  in  Bentley's  hand : 

"  Jan.  4.  I  maried  Mrs.  Johanna  Bernard,  daughter  of  S""  John 
Bernard,  Baronet.  D""  Richardson,  Fellow  of  Eaton  College  and  Mas- 
ter of  Peterhouse,  maried  us  at  Windsor  in  y«  College  Chapel. 

"  6.  I  brought  my  wife  to  S'  James's  \i.  e.,  to  his  lodgings,  as 
King's  Librarian,  in  the  Palace]. 

"  27.     I  am  39  years  old,  complete. 

"  28.     I  returnd  to  ye  College." 

It  was  a  thoroughly  happy  marriage,  through  forty  years 
of  union.  What  years  they  were,  too,  outside  of  the  home 
in  which  Mrs.  Bentley's  gentle  presence  dwelt !  In  days 
when  evil  tongues  were  busy  no  word  is  said  of  her  but 
in  praise ;  and  perhaps,  if  all  were  known,  f-ow  women  ever 
went  through  more  in  trying,  like  Mrs.  Thrale,  to  be  civil 
for  two. 

Bentley  was  Vice-chancellor  of  Cambridge  at  the  time 
of  his  marriage.  His  year  of  office  brought  him  into  col- 
lision with  the  gaieties  of  that  great  East  England  carni- 
val, Sturbridge  Fair.  Its  entertainments  were  under  the 
joint  control  of  the  University  and  the  Town,  but,  without 


vn.]  IJENTLEY  AS  MASTER  OF  TKINITV.  07 

licence  from  the  Vice-chancellor,  sonic  actors  had  been 
announced  to  play  in  September,  1701.  Lentk-y  inter- 
posed his  veto,  and  provided  for  discipline  by  investing 
sixty-two  Masters  of  Arts  with  the  powers  of  l*roctors. 
One  of  his  last  acts  as  Vice-chancellor  was  to  draw  np  an 
address  which  the  University  presented  to  King  "William, 
expressing  "detestation  of  the  indignity"  which  Louis 
XIV.  liad  just  offered  to  the  English  Crown  by  recog- 
nising the  claims  of  the  Pretender. 

The  term  of  his  University  magistracy  having  expired, 
Bentlcy  was  able  to  bestow  undivided  attention  on  Trini- 
ty College.  An  important  reform  was  amongst  his  earli- 
est measures.  Fellowships  and  Scholarships  were  at  that 
time  awarded  by  a  merely  oral  examination.  "Written 
papers  were  now  introduced ;  the  competition  for  Schol- 
arships became  annual  instead  of  biennial,  and  freshmen 
were  admitted  to  it.  The  permanent  value  of  this  change 
is  not  affected  by  the  estimate  which  may  be  formed  of 
Bentley's  personal  conduct  in  College  elections.  There 
are  instances  in  which  it  was  represented  as  arbitrary  and 
unfair.  But  we  must  remember  that  his  behaviour  was 
closely  watched  by  numerous  enemies,  who  eagerly  pressed 
every  point  which  could  be  plausibly  urged  against  him. 
The  few  detailed  accounts  wliich  we  have  of  the  elections 
give  the  impression  that,  in  those  cases  at  least,  the  merits 
of  candidates  were  fairly  considered.  Thus  John  Byrom 
says  (1709):  ""We  were  examined  by  the  Master,  Vice- 
master,  and  Dr.  Smith,  one  of  the  Seniors.  On  "U'ednes- 
day  we  made  theme  for  Dr.  Bentley,  and  on  Thursday  the 
Master  and  Seniors  met  in  the  Chapel  for  the  election  [to 
Scholarships].  Dr.  Smith  had  the  gout  and  was  not  there. 
They  stayed  consulting  about  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  then 
the  Master  wrote  the  names  of  the  elect  and  gave  them  to 


98  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

the  Chapel  Clerk."  Whether  he  was  or  was  not  always 
blameless  on  such  occasions,  Bentley  deserves  to  be  re- 
membered as  the  Master  who  instituted  a  better  machin- 
ery for  testing"  merit,  and  provided  better  guarantees  for 
its  recognition. 

To  do  him  justice,  no  man  could  have  been  more  ear- 
nest than  Bentley  was  in  desiring  to  maintain  the  prestige 
of  Trinity  College,  or  more  fully  sensible  of  the  rank  due 
to  it  in  science  and  letters.  It  was  through  Bentley's  in- 
fluence that  the  newly-founded  Plumian  Professorship  of 
Astronomy  was  conferred  on  Roger  Cotes — then  only  a 
Bachelor  of  Arts — who  Avas  provided  with  an  observato- 
ry in  the  rooms  over  the  Great  Gate  of  Trinity  College 
(1706).  Ten  years  later,  when  this  man  of  wonderful 
promise  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-four,  Newton  said,  "  Had 
Cotes  lived,  we  should  have  known  something."  The  ap- 
pointment of  Cotes  may  be  regarded  as  marking  the  for- 
mal establishment  of  a  Newtonian  school  in  Cambridge; 
and  it  was  of  happy  omen  that  it  should  have  been  first 
lodged  within  the  walls  whicb  had  sheltered  the  labours 
of  the  founder.  Three  English  sovereigns  visited  the  Col- 
lege in  the  course  of  Bentley's  Mastership,  but  the  most 
interesting  fact  connected  with  any  of  these  occasions  is 
the  public  recognition  of  Newton's  scientific  eminence  in 
1705,  when  he  received  knighthood  from  Queen  Anne  at 
Trinity  Lodge.  Then  it  was  Bentley  who  fitted  up  a 
chemical  laboratory  in  Trinity  College  for  Vigani,  a  na- 
tive of  Verona,  who,  after  lecturing  in  Cambridge  for  some 
years,  was  appointed  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  1702.  It 
was  Bentley  who  made  Trinity  College  the  home  of  the 
eminent  Oriental  scholar  Sike,  of  Bremen,  whom  he  helped 
to  obtain  the  Regius  Chair  of  Hebrew  in  1703,  Briefly, 
wherever  real  science  needed  protection  or  encouragement, 


VII.]  HF.XTl.EV  AS  MASTER  OF  TIJINITY.  90 

tliciv,  in  IJcntlcv's  view,  was  the  opportunity  of  Trinity 
Culle<;o ;  it  was  to  bo  indeed  a  house  of  the  sciences  and 
"  of  all  kinds  of  good  letters ;"  it  was  to  be  not  only  a 
groat  Coilcgo,  but,  in  its  own  measure,  a  true  University. 

This  noble  conception  represents  the  good  side  <»f 
Bcntley's  Mastership ;  he  did  something  towards  making 
it  a  reality  ;  lie  did  more  still  towards  creating,  or  reani- 
mating, a  tradition  tiiat  this  is  what  Trinity  College  was 
meant  to  be,  and  that  nothing  lower  than  this  is  the  char- 
acter at  which  it  sliould  aim.  Xor  is  it  without  signifi- 
cance that  Xevile's  care  for  the  external  embellishment 
of  the  College  was  resumed  by  Bentley.  The  Chapel,  be- 
gun in  1557  and  finished  in  Elizabeth's  reign,  was  through 
Bcntley's  efforts  entirely  refitted,  and  furnished  with  a 
fine  organ  by  Bernard  Smith.  This  work  was  completed 
in  1727.  The  grounds  beyond  the  river,  acquired  by 
Nevile,  were  first  laid  out  by  Bentley ;  and  the  noble 
avenue  of  limes,  planted  in  1G74  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Cam,  was  continued  in  1717  from  the  bridge  to  the  Col- 
lege. 

But  unfortunately  it  was  his  resolve  to  be  absolute,  and 
he  proclaimed  it  in  a  manner  which  was  altogether  his 
owi^.  The  College  Bursar  (a  Fellow)  having  protested 
against  the  lavish  outlay  on  the  repairs  of  the  Master's 
Lodge,  Bentley  said  that  he  would  "send  him  into  the 
country  to  feed  his  turkeys."  When  the  Fellows  opposed 
him  in  the  same  matter,  he  alluded  to  his  power,  under 
the  Statutes,  of  forbidding  them  to  leave  the  College,  and 
cried,  "  Have  you  forgotten  my  rusty  sword  ?"  The  Fel- 
low who  held  the  office  of  Junior  Bursar  had  demurred  to 
paying  for  a  lien-house  which  had  been  put  in  the  Mas- 
ter's yard  ;  Bentley,  doubtless  in  allusion  to  Lafontaine's 
fable  of  "the  Old  Lion,"  replied,  "I  will  not  be  kicked  by 


100  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

an  a5s" — and  presently  strained  liis  prerogative  by  stop- 
ping the  Junior  Bursar's  commons.  Remonstrances  being 
made,  he  grimly  rejoined,  "'Tis  all  but  liisiis  jocusque 
(mere  cliild's-play) ;  I  am  not  warm  yet."  Criticising  a 
financial  arrangement  which  was  perfectly  legitimate,  but 
of  which  he  disapproved,  he  accused  the  Seniors  of  "rob- 
bing the  Library,"  and  "putting  the  money  in  their  own 
pockets."  He  harassed  the  society  by  a  number  of  petty 
regulations,  in  which  we  may  give  him  credit  for  having 
aimed  at  a  tonic  effect,  but  which  were  so  timed  and  exe- 
cuted as  to  be  highly  vexatious.  Thus,  in  order  to  force 
the  Fellows  to  take  the  higher  degrees,  he  procured  the 
decision,  after  a  struggle,  that  any  Bachelor  or  Doctor  of 
Divinity  should  have  a  right  to  College  rooms  or  a  Col- 
lege living  before  a  Master  of  Arts,  even  though  the  latter 
was  senior  on  the  list  of  Fellows.  As  a  measure  of  re- 
trenchment, he  abolislied  the  entertainment  of  guests  by 
the  College  at  the  great  festivals.  Taking  the  dead  letter 
of  the  Statutes  in  its  rigour,  he  decreed  that  the  College 
Lecturers  should  be  fined  if  they  omitted  to  perform  cer- 
tain daily  exercises  in  the  hall,  which  were  no  longer  need- 
ful or  valuable ;  he  also  enforced,  in  regard  to  the  thirty 
junior  Fellows,  petty  fines  for  absence  from  chapel  (which 
were  continued  to  recent  times).  On  several  occasions  he 
took  into  his  own  hands  a  jurisdiction  which  belonged  to 
him  only  jointly  with  the  eight  Seniors.  Thus,  in  one  in- 
stance, he  expelled  two  Fellows  of  the  College  by  his  sole 
fiat. 

If  Bcntley  is  to  be  credited  with  the  excellence  of  the 
intentions  which  declared  themselves  in  such  a  form,  rec- 
ognition is  certainly  due  to  the  forbearance  shown  by  the 
Fallows  of  Trinity.  Bentley  afterwards  sought  to  repre- 
sent them  as  worthless  men  who  resented  his  endeavours 


VII.  1  BEN'TLEY  AS  MASTKIl  OF  TIIIN'ITV.  lol 

to  reform  them.  It  cannot  be  too  distinctly  said  that  this 
was  totally  unjust.  The  Fellows,  as  a  body,  were  liable 
to  no  such  charges  as  Bentley  in  his  anger  brought  against 
them  ;  not  a  few  of  them  were  eminent  in  the  University ; 
and  if  there  were  any  whose  lives  would  not  bear  scrutiny, 
tiiey  were  at  most  two  or  three,  usually  non-resident,  and 
always  without  influence.  It  may  safely  be  said  that  no 
large  society  of  that  time,  in  either  University,  would 
have  sustained  an  inspection  with  more  satisfactor}'  re- 
sults. The  average  College  Fellow  of  that  period  was  a 
moderately  accomplished  clergyman,  whose  desire  was  to 
repose  in  decent  comfort  on  a  small  freehold.  Bentley 
swooped  on  a  large  house  of  such  persons — not  ideal  stu- 
dents, yet,  on  the  whole,  decidedly  favourable  specimens 
of  their  kind ;  he  made  their  lives  a  burden  to  them,  and 
then  denounced  them  as  the  refuse  of  humanity  when 
they  dared  to  lift  their  heads  against  his  insolent  assump- 
tion of  absolute  power.  They  bore  it  as  long  as  flesh  and 
blood  could.  For  nearly  eight  years  they  endured.  At 
last,  in  December,  1709,  things  came  to  a  crisis — almost 
by  an  accident. 

Bentley  had  brought  forward  a  proposal  for  redistribut- 
ing the  divisible  income  of  the  College  according  to  a 
scheme  of  his  own,  one  feature  of  which  was  that  the 
Master  should  receive  a  dividend  considerably  in  excess  of 
bis  legitimate  claims.  Even  Bentley's  authority  failed  to 
obtain  the  acquiescence  of  the  Seniors  in  this  novel  inter- 
pretation of  the  maxim,  divide  et  iinpent.  They  declined 
to  sanction  the  scheme.  "While  the  discussion  was  pend- 
ing, Edmund  Miller,  a  lay  Fellow,  came  up  to  spend  the 
Christmas  vacation  at  Trinity.  As  an  able  barrister,  who 
understood  College  business,  he  was  just  such  an  ally  as 
the  Fellows  needed,     lie  found  them,  he  says,  "  looking 


102  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

like  so  many  prisoners,  whicli  were  uncertain  whether  to 
expect  military  execution,  or  the  favour  of  decimation." 
At  a  meeting  of  the  Master  and  Seniors,  it  was  agreed  to 
hear  Miller,  as  a  representative  of  the  junior  Fellows,  on 
the  dividend  question.  Miller  denounced  the  plan  to 
T)cntley's  face,  who  replied  by  threatening  to  deprive  him 
of  his  Fellowship.  A  few  days  later,  an  open  rupture 
took  place  between  the  Seniors  and  Bentley,  who  left  the 
room  exclaiming,  "Henceforward,  farewell  peace  to  Trin- 
ity College."  Miller  now  drew  up  a  declaration,  which 
was  signed  by  twenty-four  resident  Fellows,  including  the 
Seniors.  It  expressed  a  desire  that  Bentley's  conduct 
should  be  represented  "  to  those  who  are  the  proper 
judges  thereof,  and*in  such  manner  as  counsel  shall  ad- 
vise." Bentley,  against  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  Sen- 
iors, and  on  a  technical  quibble  of  his  own,  now  declared 
Miller's  Fellowship  void.  Miller  appealed  to  the  Vice- 
master,  who,  supported  by  all  the  Seniors,  replaced  him 
on  the  list.  The  Master  again  struck  out  his  name.  Mil- 
ler now  left  for  London.  Bentley  soon  followed.  Both 
sides  were  resolved  on  war. 

jWho  were  "the  proper  judges"  of  Bentley's  conduct? 
The  46th  chapter  of  Edward  VI.'s  Statutes  for  Trinity 
College  recognised  the  Bishop  of  Ely  as  General  Visitor. 
The  Elizabethan  Statutes  omit  this,  but  in  their  40th  chap- 
ter, which  provides  for  the  removal  of  the  Master  in  case 
of  necessity,  incidentally  speak  of  the  Bishop  as  Visitor. 
Bentley,  six  years  before  (1703),  had  himself  appealed  to 
the  Bishop  of  Ely  on  a  point  touching  the  Master's  pre- 
rogative. No  other  precedent  existed.  Acting  on  this, 
the  Fellows,  in  February,  1710,  laid  their  "humble  peti- 
tion and  complaint"  before  the  Bishop  of  Ely.  They 
brought,  in  general  terms,  a  charge  of  malversation  against 


VII.]  i;i:nti,i;v  as  master  of  tiunitv.  10:5 

Bcntlcy,  and  promised  to  submit  "the  several  particulars" 
within  a  convenient  time.  Bentley  now  published  a  "Let- 
ter to  the  Bishop  of  Ely,"  in  which  he  made  a  most  gross 
attack  on  the  collective  character  of  the  Fellows,  describ- 
ing their  Petition  as  "  the  last  struggle  and  effort  of  vice 
and  idleness  against  vertue,  learning,  and  good  discipline." 
In  July  the  Fellows  presented  "the  several  particulars"  to 
the  Bishop,  in  the  form  of  an  accusation  comprising  fifty- 
four  counts.  The  Statute  prescribed  that  an  accused  Mas- 
ter should  be  "examined"  before  the  Visitor.  Hence 
each  of  the  counts  is  interrogative.     For  example  : 

"  Z'&\)S  liave  you  for  many  Years  last  past,  wasted  the  College 
Bread,  Ale,  Beer,  Coals,  Wood,  Tiirfe,  Sedge,  Ciiarcoal,  Liuncn,  Pew- 
ter, Corn,  Flower,  Brawn,  and  Bran  ?  &e." 

"  SS^Dcn  by  false  and  base  Practices,  as  by  thrcatning  to  bring 
Letters  from  Court,  A'isitations,  and  the  like ;  and  at  other  times, 
by  boasting  of  your  great  Interest  and  Acquaintance,  and  that  you 
were  the  Genius  of  the  Age,  and  what  great  things  you  would  do  for 
the  College  in  general,  and  for  every  Member  of  it  in  particular,  and 
promising  that  you  would  for  the  future  live  peaceably  with  them, 
and  never  make  any  farther  Demands,  you  had  prevailed  with  the 
Senior  Fellows  to  allow  you  several  hundred  Pounds  for  your  Lodge, 
more  than  they  first  intended  or  agreed  for,  to  the  great  Dissatisfac- 
tion of  the  College,  and  the  wonder  of  the  whole  University,  and  all 
that  heard  of  it :  I®I)ii  did  you  the  very  next  Year,  about  that  time, 
merely  for  your. own  Vanity,  require  them  to  build  you  a  new  Stair- 
case in  your  Lodge  ?  SlnD  luljeu  they  (considering  how  much  you 
had  extorted  from  them  before,  which  you  had  never  accounted  for) 
did  for  good  reason  deny  to  do  it :  JU^liVi  did  you  of  your  own  Head 
pull  down  a  good  Staircase  in  your  Lodge,  and  give  Orders  and 
Directions  for  building  a  new  one,  and  that  too  fine  for  common 
Use  '?•' 

"  (l^\)V  did  you  use  scurrilous  Words  and  Language  to  several  of 
the  Fellows,  particularly  by  calling  Sir.  Eden  an  Ass,  and  ilr.  Jiashli^ 
the  College  Dog,  and  by  telling  Mr.  Cock  he  would  die  in  his  Shoes  ?" 


104  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

Dr.  Moore,  the  learned  Bishop  of  Ely,  was  one  of  the 
six  Commissioners  who  had  nominated  Bentley  for  the 
Mastership ;  he  sympathised  with  his  studies ;  and  Bent- 
ley  had  been  Archdeacon  of  the  diocese  since  1701.  The 
judge,  then,  could  hardly  be  suspected  of  any  bias  against 
the  accused.  He  sent  a  copy  of  the  accusation  to  Bent- 
ley,  who  ignored  it  for  some  months.  In  November  the 
Bishop  wrote  again,  requiring  a  reply  by  December  18. 
Bentley  then  petitioned  the  Queen,  praying  that  the  Bish- 
op of  Ely  might  be  restrained  from  usurping  the  functions 
of  Visitor.  The  Visitor  of  Trinity  College,  Bentley  con- 
tended, was  the  Sovereign.  Mr.  Secretary  St.  John  at  once 
referred  Bentley's  contention  to  the  Law  OflBcers  of  the 
Crown,  and  meanwhile  the  Bishop  was  inhibited  from  pro- 
ceeding.    This  was  at  the  end  of  1710. 

Bentley's  move  was  part  of  a  calculation.  In  1710  the 
Tories  had  come  in  under  Harley  and  St.  John.  Mrs. 
Bentley  was  related  to  St.  John,  and  also  to  Mr.  Masham, 
whose  wife  had  succeeded  the  Duchess  of  Marlborough 
in  the  Queen's  favour.  Bentley  reckoned  on  command- 
ing sufficient  influence  to  override  the  Bishop's  jurisdic- 
tion by  a  direct  interposition  of  the  Crown.  He  was  dis- 
appointed. The  Attorney-general  and  the  Solicitor-gen- 
eral reported  that,  in  their  opinion,  the  Bishop  of  Ely  was 
Visitor  of  Trinity  College  in  matters  concerning  the  Mas- 
ter;  adding  that  Bentley  could,  if  he  pleased,  try  the  ques- 
tion in  a  court  of  law.  This  was  not  what  Bentley  de- 
sired, lie  now  wrote  to  the  Prime-minister,  Harley,  who 
had  recently  escaped  assassination,  and,  witb  the  oflBce  of 
Lord  High  Treasurer,  had  been  created  Earl  of  Oxford. 
Bentley's  letter  is  dated  July  12,  l7ll.  "  I  desire  nothing 
more,"  he  writes,  "  than  that  her  Majesty  would  send  down 
commissioners  to  examine  into  all  matters  upon  the  place, 


Ml]  BEXTLEY  AS  MASTER  UF  TKIMTV.  105 

.  .  .  and  to  punisli  where  the  faults  sliall  be  foiiml.  ...  I 
am  easy  untlor  everything  but  loss  of  time  by  detainnient 
here  in  town,  which  hinders  me  from  putting  ray  last 
hand  to  my  edition  of  Horace,  and  from  doing  myself  the 
honour  to  inscribe  it  to  your  Lordship's  great  name."  The 
Premier  did  bis  best.  lie  referred  the  report  of  the  At- 
torney and  Solicitor  to  the  Lord  Keeper,  Sir  Simon  Har- 
court,  and  Queen's  Counsel.  In  January,  1712,  they  ex- 
pressed their  opinion  that  the  Sovereign  is  the  General 
Visitor  of  Trinity  College,  but  that  the  Bishop  of  Ely  is 
Special  Visitor  in  the  case  of  charges  brought  against  the 
Master.  The  Minister  now  tried  persuasion  with  the  Fel- 
lows. Could  they  not  concur  with  the  Master  in  referring 
their  grievances  to  the  Crown  ?  The  Fellows  declined. 
A  year  passed.  Bentley  tried  to  starve  out  the  College 
by  refusing  to  issue  a  dividend.  In  vain.  The  Ministry 
were  threatened  with  a  revision,  in  the  Queen's  Bench,  of 
their  veto  on  the  Bishop.  They  did  not  like  this  prospect. 
On  April  18,  1713,  Bolingbroke,  as  Secretary  of  State,  au- 
thorised the  Bishop  of  Ely  to  proceed. 

Bentlcy's  ingenuity  was  not  yet  exhausted.  He  pro- 
posed that  the  trial  should  be  held  forthwith  at  Cam- 
bridge, where  all  the  College  books  were  ready  to  hand. 
Had  this  been  done,  he  must  certainly  have  been  acquit- 
ted, since  the  prosecutors  had  not  yet  worked  up  their 
case.  Some  of  the  Fellows  unwarily  consented.  But  the 
Bishop  appointed  Ely  House,  in  London,  as  the  place  of 
trial,  and  the  month  of  November,  1713,  as  the  time. 
Various  causes  of  delay  intervened.  At  last,  in  May, 
1714,  the  trial  came  on  in  the  great  hall  of  Ely  House. 
Five  counsel,  including  Miller,  were  employed  for  the 
Fellows,  and  three  for  Bentley.  Bishop  Moore  had  two 
eminent  lawyers  as  liis  assessors  —  Lord  Cowper,  an  ex- 


106  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

Chancellor,  and  Dr.  Newton.  Public  feeling  was  at  first 
with  Beutley,  as  a  distinguished  scholar  and  divine.  But 
the  prosecutors  had  a  strong  case.  An  anecdote  of  the 
trial  is  given  by  Bentley's  grandson,  Cumberland.  One 
day  the  Bishop  intimated,  from  his  place  as  Judge,  that 
he  condemned  the  Master's  conduct.  For  once,  Bentley's 
iron  nerve  failed  him.     He  fainted  in  court. 

After  lasting  six  weeks,  the  trial  ended  about  the  mid- 
dle of  June.  Both  sides  now  awaited  with  intense  anx- 
iety the  judgment  of  the  Bishop  and  his  assessors.  The 
prosecutors  were  confident.  Bat  week  after  week  elapsed 
in  silence.  The  Bishop  had  caught  a  chill  during  the 
sittings.  On  July  31  he  died.  The  next  day,  August  1, 
1714,  London  was  thrilled  by  momentous  news.  Queen 
Anne  was  no  more.  The  British  Crown  had  passed  to  the 
House  of  Hanover.  Ministers  had  fallen ;  new  men  were 
coming  to  power;  the  political  world  was  wild  with  excite- 
ment ;  and  the  griefs  of  Trinity  College  would  have  to  wait. 

Bentley's  escape  had  been  narrow.  After  Bishop  Moore's 
death,  the  judgment  which  he  had  prepared,  but  not  pro- 
nounced, was  found  among  his  papers:  "By  this  our  de- 
finitive sentence,  we  remove  Richard  Bentley  from  his  of- 
fice of  Master  of  the  College."  Dr.  Monk  thinks  that  the 
Bishop  had  meant  this  merely  to  frighten  Bentley  into  a 
compromise  with  the  Fellows,  Possibly;  though  in  that 
case  the  Bishop  would  have  had  to  reckon  with  the  other 
side.  But  in  any  case  Bentley  must  have  accepted  the 
Bishop's  terms,  and  these  must  have  been  such  as  would 
have  satisfied  the  prosecutors.  If  not  ejected,  therefore, 
he  would  still  have  been  defeated.  As  it  was,  he  got  off 
scot-free. 

The  new  Bishop  of  Ely,  Dr.  Fleetwood,  took  a  different 
line  from  his  predecessor.     The  Crown  lawyers  had  held 


Tn.]  BFA'TLEY  AS  MASTER  OF  TRINITY.  Hi? 

that  the  Bishop  was  Special  Visitor,  but  not  General  Vis- 
itor. Dr.  Fleetwood  said  that,  if  he  interfered  at  all,  it 
must  be  as  General  Visitor,  to  do  justice  on  all  alike. 
This  scared  some  of  the  weaker  Fellows  into  making 
peace  with  Bentlcy,  who  kindly  consented  to  drop  his 
dividend  scheme.  In  one  sense  the  new  Bishop's  course 
was  greatly  to  Bcntley's  advantage,  since  it  raised  the 
preliminary  question  over  again.  Miller  vainly  tried  to 
move  Dr.  Fleetwood.  Meanwhile  Bentley  was  acting  as 
autocrat  of  the  College  —  dealing  with  its  property  and 
its  patronage  as  he  pleased.  His  conduct  led  to  a  fresh 
effort  for  redress. 

The  lead  on  this  occasion  was  taken  by  Dr.  Colbatch, 
now  a  Senior  Fellow.  From  the  beginning  of  the  feuds, 
Colbatch  had  been  a  counsellor  of  moderation,  disapprov- 
ing much  in  the  stronger  measures  advocated  by  Miller. 
lie  was  an  able  and  accomplished  man,  whose  rigid  main- 
tenance of  his  own  principles  extorted  respect  even  where 
it  did  not  command  sympathy.  Colbatch's  early  manhood 
had  been  expended  on  performing  the  duties  of  private 
tutor  in  two  families  of  distinction,  and  he  had  returned 
to  College  at  forty,  more  convinced  than  ever  that  it  is  a 
mistake  to  put  trust  in  princes.  Ue  was  a  dangerous  ene- 
my because  he  seemed  incapable  of  revenge ;  it  was  always 
on  high  grounds  that  he  desired  the  confusion  of  the  wick- 
ed ;  and  he  pursued  that  object  with  the  temperate  impla- 
cability which  belongs  to  a  disappointed  man  of  the  world. 
Since  the  Bishop  of  Ely  would  not  act  unless  as  General 
Visitor,  Colbatch  drew  up  a  petition,  which  nineteen  Fel- 
lows signed,  praying  that  it  might  be  ascertained  who  was 
General  Visitor.  This  was  encouraged  by  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  Dr.  "Wake — who  described  Bentley  as  "  the 
greatest  instance  of  human  frailty  that  I  know  of,  as  with 


108  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

such  good  parts  and  so  mucli  learning  he  can  be  so  insup- 
portable." Ttie  object  of  the  petition  was  baulked  for  the 
time  by  the  delays  of  the  Attorney-general.  After  three 
years  the  petition  came  before  the  Privy  Council  in  May, 
1719. 

Bentley  was  equal  to  the  occasion.  Serjeant  Miller  had 
presented  the  petition,  and  could  withdraw  it.  For  five 
years  Bentley  had  been  making  active  war  on  Miller,  and 
renewing  the  attempt  to  eject  him  from  his  Fellowship. 
Now,  towards  the  end  of  1719,  he  made  peace  with  him, 
on  singular  terms.  Miller  was  to  withdraw  the  petition ; 
to  resign  his  Fellowship,  in  consideration  of  certain  pay- 
ments ;  and  to  receive  the  sum  of  £400  as  costs  on  ac- 
count of  the  former  prosecution  before  Bishop  Moore. 
Miller  agreed.  Bentley  then  proposed  the  compact  to  the 
Seniors.  Five  of  the  eight  would  have  nothing  to  say  to 
it.  By  a  series  of  manoeuvres,  however,  Bentley  carried  it 
at  a  subsequent  meeting.  Serjeant  Miller  received  £528 
from  the  College.  Who  shall  describe  the  feelings  of  the 
belligerent  Fellows,  when  the  Serjeant's  strategy  collapsed 
in  this  miserable  Sedan  ?  It  was  he  who  had  made  them 
go  to  war ;  it  was  he  who  had  led  them  through  the  mazes 
of  the  law ;  they  had  caught  his  clear  accents,  learned  his 
great  language ;  and  here  was  the  end  of  it !  But  this 
was  not  all.  If  the  College  is  to  pay  costs  on  one  side, 
the  Master  argued,  it  must  pay  them  on  both.  Accord- 
ingly, Bentley  himself  received  £500  for  his  own  costs  in 
the  trial.  And,  anxious  to  make  hay  in  this  gleam  of  sun- 
shine, he  further  prevailed  on  the  Seniors  to  grant  a  hand- 
some sum  for  certain  furniture  of  the  Master's  Lodge. 
Bentley  had  no  more  to  fear,  at  present,  from  the  oppo- 
sition of  an  organised  party.  For  the  next  few  years  his 
encounters  were  single  combats. 


vii.J  IIKNTLKY  AS  ilASTKR  OF  TlllMTV.  IftO 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  in  Trinity  College.  Mean- 
while Bentlcy's  relations  with  the  University  had  come  to 
an  extraordinary  pass.  From  the  fust  days  of  his  Master- 
ship his  reputation,  his  ability  and  energy  had  made  him 
influential  in  Cambridge,  though  he  was  not  generally  pop- 
ular. "We  saw  that,  before  his  appointment  to  Trinity,  he 
had  taken  a  leading  part  in  the  reparation  of  the  Univer- 
sity Press.  lie  continued  to  show  an  active  interest  in  its 
management  by  serving  on  occasional  committees ;  no  per- 
manent Press  Syndicate  was  constituted  till  1737.  Poli- 
tics were  keen  at  the  University  in  Bentlcy's  time :  a  divi- 
sion in  the  academic  Senate  was  often  a  direct  trial  of 
strength  between  "Whig  and  Tory.  When  Bcntloy  struck 
a  blow  in  these  University  battles,  it  was  almost  always 
with  a  view  to  some  advantage  in  his  own  College  war. 
Two  instances  will  illustrate  this.  In  June,  1712,  when 
acting  as  Deputy  Vice-chancellor,  Bcntley  carried  in  the 
Senate  an  address  to  Queen  Anne,  congratulating  her  on 
the  progress  of  the  peace  negotiations  at  Utrecht.  The 
address  was  meant  as  a  manifesto  in  support  of  the  Tory 
Ministry,  whom  the  Whigs  had  just  been  attacking  on  this 
score  in  the  Lords.  x\t  that  time  Uarlcy,  the  Tory  Pre- 
mier, was  the  protector  on  whom  Bcntley  relied  in  his 
College  troubles.  The  irritation  of  the  Whig  party  in  the 
University  may  have  been  one  cause  of  a  severe  reflection 
passed  on  Bcntley  soon  afterwards.  The  Senate  resolved 
that  no  Archdeacon  of  Ely  should  thenceforth  be  eligible 
as  Vice-chancellor ;  a  decree  which,  however,  was  rescind- 
ed two  years  later.  Then  in  171G  Bcntley  sorely  needed 
the  countenance  of  the  Whig  Government  against  the  re- 
vived hostilities  in  Trinity.  By  a  sui-prise  he  carried 
through  the  Senate  an  address  to  George  I,,  congratulat- 
ing him  on  the  recent  suppression  of  the  Jacobite  risings. 
6 


110  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

A  letter  of  Bentley's  describes  the  Cambridge  Tories  as 
being  "  in  a  desperate  rage  " — not  wholly,  perhaps,  with- 
out provocation. 

It  was  shortly  before  this — in  the  early  days  of  the  Jac- 
obite rebellion,  when  visions  of  a  Roman  Catholic  reign 
were  agitating  the  public  imagination — that  Bentley  preach- 
ed before  the  University,  on  the  6th  of  November,  1V15, 
his  "  Sermon  on  Popery  " — from  which  a  passage  on  the 
tortures  of  the  Inquisition  has  been  transferred  by  Sterne 
to  the  pages  of  "Tristram  Shandy,"  and  deeply  moves 
Corporal  Trim.  Bentley  had  then  lately  received  the  un- 
usual honour  of  being  publicly  thanked  by  the  Senate  for 
his  reply  to  "  A  Discourse  of  Free-thinking  "  by  Anthony 
Collins.  When  the  Regius  Professorship  of  Divinity — 
the  most  valuable  in  the  University — fell  vacant  in  171 7, 
few  persons,  perhaps,  would  have  questioned  Dr.  Bentley's 
claims  on  the  grounds  of  ability  and  learning.  But  the 
Statute  had  declared  that  the  Professor  must  not  hold  any 
other  oflace  in  the  University  or  in  Trinity  College.  Two 
precedents  were  alleged  to  show  that  a  Master  of  Trinity 
might  hold  the  Professorship,  but  they  were  not  unexcep- 
tionable. Of  the  seven  electors,  three  certainly — presuma- 
bly five — were  against  the  Master  of  Trinity's  pretensions. 
The  favourite  candidate  was  Dr.  Ashton,  Master  of  Jesus ; 
and  there  are  letters  to  him  which  show  the  strong  feeling 
in  the  University  against  his  rival.  On  the  whole,  most 
men  would  have  despaired.  Not  so  Bentley.  By  raising 
a  legal  point,  he  contrived  to  stave  oflE  the  election  for  a 
few  weeks;  and  then  seized  a  propitious  moment.  The 
Vice-chancellor  was  one  of  the  seven  electors.  It  was  ar- 
ranged that  Mr.  Grigg,  who  held  that  office,  should  leave 
Cambridge  for  a  few  days,  naming  Bentley  Deputy  Vice- 
chancellor,     On  the  day  of  election  the  Master  of  Trinity 


VII.]  BEXTLEY  AS  MASTER  OF  TRINITY.  Ill 

was  chosen  llcgius  Professor  of  Divinity  by  four  out  of 
seven  votes,  one  of  the  four  being  that  of  the  Deputy 
Vice-chancellor,  It  was  in  this  candidature  that  Dr. 
Bontley  delivered  an  admired  discourse  on  the  three  heav- 
enly witnesses,  which  denied  the  authenticity  of  that  text. 
It  is  no  longer  extant,  but  had  been  seen  b}'  Porson,  who 
himself  wrote  on  the  subject. 

This  was  in  May,  I7l7.  Not  long  afterwards  Bentley 
had  occasion  to  appear  publicly  in  his  new  character  of 
RegiiTs  Professor.  Early  in  October,  George  I.  was  stay- 
ing at  Newmarket.  On  Friday,  the  4th,  his  Majesty  con- 
sented to  visit  Cambridge  on  the  following  Sunday.  There 
was  not  much  time  for  preparation,  but  it  was  arranged  to 
confer  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  on  twenty-seven  of 
the  royal  retinue,  and  that  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  on  thirty- 
two  members  of  the  University.  On  Sunday  morning  Mr. 
Grigg,  the  Vice-chancellor,  presented  himself  at  Trinity 
Lodge,  there  to  await  the  arrival  of  the  Chancellor,  "the 
proud  Duke  of  Somerset."  Bentley  was  unprepared  for 
this  honour;  he  was  "in  his  morning  gown,"  busied  with 
meditations  of  hospitality  or  of  eloquence ;  in  fact,  he  re- 
monstrated ;  but  Mr.  Grigg  remained.  At  last  the  Chan- 
cellor came.  Bentley  was  affable,  but  a  little  distrait. 
"While  he  entertained  the  Dnke  in  discourse,"  says  one 
who  was  present,  "  there  stood  the  Earl  of  Thomond  and 
Bishop  of  Norwich,  unregarded :  and  there  they  might 
have  stood,  if  one  of  the  Beadles  had  not  touched  his 
sleeve  a  little ;  and  then  he  vouchsafed  them  a  welcome 
also."  But  worse  was  to  come.  George  I.  attended  ser- 
vice at  King's  College  Chapel.  When  it  was  over,  the 
Vice-chancellor  proceeded  to  conduct  his  Majesty  back  to 
Trinity  College.  But  Mr.  Grigg  was  desirous  that  royal 
eyes  should  behold  his  own  College,  Clare  Hall,  and  there- 


112  BEXTLEY.  [chap. 

fore  cliose  a  route  which  led  to  a  closed  gate  of  Trinity 
College.  Here  a  halt  of  some  minutes  took  place  in  a 
muddy  lane,  before  word  could  reach  the  principal  en- 
trance, where  Bentley  and  an  enthusiastic  crowd  were 
awaiting  their  Sovereign. 

These  little  griefs,  however,  were  nothing  to  the  later 
troubles  which  this  day's  proceedings  begat  for  Bentley. 
As  it  was  thought  that  thirty-two  new  Doctors  of  Divinity 
might  be  too  much  for  the  King,  Sunday's  ceremonial  had 
been  limited  to  presenting  a  few  of  them  as  samples. 
Bentley,  as  Eegius  Professor  of  Divinity,  had  done  his 
part  admirably.  But  the  next  day,  when  the  rest  of  the 
doctors  were  to  be  "  created  "  at  leisure,  Bentley  flatly  re- 
fused to  proceed,  unless  each  of  them  paid  him  a  fee  of 
four  guineas,  in  addition  to  the  customary  broad -piece. 
As  the  degrees  were  honorary,  the  claim  was  sheer  extor- 
tion. Some  complied,  others  resisted.  Conyers  Middle- 
ton,  the  biographer  of  Cicero,  was  at  this  time  a  resident 
in  Cambridge,  though  no  longer  a  Fellow  of  any  College. 
He  paid  his  four  guineas,  got  his  D.D.  degree,  and  then 
sued  Bentley  for  the  debt  in  the  Vice-chancellor's  Court, 
a  tribunal  of  academic  jurisdiction  in  such  matters.  After 
months  of  fruitless  diplomacy,  the  Vice-chancellor  reluc- 
tantly issued  a  decree  for  Beutley's  arrest  at  Middleton's 
suit.  The  writ  was  served  on  Bentley  at  Trinity  Lodge — 
not,  however,  before  one  of  the  Esquire  Bedells  had  been 
treated  with  indignity.  Bail  was  given  for  Beutley's  ap- 
pearance before  the  Court  on  October  3,  1718.  He  failed 
to  appear.  The  Court  then  declared  that  he  was  suspend- 
ed from  all  his  degrees.  A  fortnight  later,  a  Grace  was 
offered  to  the  Senate,  proposing  that  Bentley's  degrees 
should  be  not  merely  suspended  but  taken  away.  Bent- 
ley's  friends  did  their  utmost.     To  the  honour  of  the  Fel- 


VII. ]  HENTLEV  AS  MASTER  OK  THI.VITV.  li:{ 

lows  of  Trinity,  only  four  of  tlicni  voted  against  him. 
But  the  Grace  was  carried  by  more  than  two  to  one. 
Nine  Heads  of  Colleges  and  twenty -three  Doctors  sup- 
ported it. 

AVhcn  the  Master  of  Trinity  learned  that  he  was  no 
longer  Richard  Bentley,  D.D.,  M.A.,  or  even  B.A.,  but 
simply  Richard  Bentley,  he  said,  "  I  have  rubbed  through 
many  a  worse  business  than  this."  lie  instantly  bestirred 
himself  with  his  old  vigour,  petitioning  the  Crown,  appeal- 
ing to  powerful  friends,  and  dealing  some  hard  knocks  in 
the  free  fight  of  pamphlets  which  broke  out  on  the  ques- 
tion. For  nearly  six  years,  liowever,  he  remained  under 
the  sentence  of  degradation.  During  that  period  he 
brought  actions  of  libel  against  his  two  principal  adversa- 
ries, Colbatch,  and  Conyers  Middleton.  Colbatch  suffered 
a  week's  imprisonment  and  a  line.  Middleton  was  twice 
prosecuted ;  the  first  time,  he  had  to  apologise  to  Bentley, 
and  pay  costs;  the  second  time  he  was  fined.  During  the 
years  1720-1723  Bentley  had  altogether  six  lawsuits  in 
the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  and  gained  all  of  them.  The 
last  and  most  important  was  against  the  University,  for 
having  taken  away  his  degrees.  That  act  had  undoubtedly 
been  illegal.  The  four  Judges  all  took  Bentley's  part. 
On  February  7,  1724,  the  Court  gave  judgment.  The 
University  received  peremptory  direction  to  restore  Bent- 
ley's  degrees.  That  command  was  obeyed,  but  with  a 
significant  circumstance.  On  March  25,  1724,  the  Vice- 
chancellor  was  to  lay  the  first  stone  of  the  new  buildings 
designed  for  King's  College.  In  order  that  Bentley  might 
not  participate  as  a  Doctor  in  the  ceremonial,  the  Grace  re- 
storing his  degrees  was  offered  to  the  Senate  on  March  26. 

Thus,  after  fifteen  years  of  almost  incessant  strife,  the 
Master  of  Trinity  had  prevailed  over  opposition  both  in 


114  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

the  College  and  in  tbc  University.  He  was  sixty-two. 
His  fame  as  a  scliolar  was  unrivalled.  As  a  controversial- 
ist he  had  proved  himself  a  match,  in  different  fields,  for 
wits,  heretics,  and  lawyers.  At  Cambridge,  where  he  was 
now  the  virtual  leader  of  the  Whig  party  in  the  Senate, 
his  influence  had  become  pre-eminent.  And  as  if  to  show 
that  he  had  passed  through  all  his  troubles  without  stain, 
it  was  in  this  year,  1724,  that  the  Duke  of  Newcastle 
wrote  and  offered  him  the  Bishopric  of  Bristol  —  then 
rather  a  poor  one.  Bentley  declined  it,  frankly  observing 
that  the  revenues  of  the  see  would  scarcely  enable  him  to 
attend  Parliament.  When  he  was  asked  what  preferment 
he  would  accept — "  Such,"  he  answered,  "as  would  not 
induce  me  to  desire  an  exchange." 

The  remainder  of  this  combative  life,  it  might  have  been 
thought,  would  now  be  peaceful.  But  the  last  chapter  is 
the  most  curious  of  all.  It  can  be  briefly  told.  Dr.  Col- 
batch,  the  ablest  of  Bentley's  adversaries  in  Trinitj'  Col- 
lege, had  never  resigned  the  purpose  of  bringing  the  Mas- 
ter to  justice.  It  had  become  the  object  for  which  he 
lived :  private  wrongs  had  sunk  into  his  mind ;  but  he 
believed  himself  to  be  fulfilling  a  public  duty.  In  1726 
he  vainly  endeavoured  to  procure  intervention  by  the  Dean 
and  Chapter  of  Westminster,  on  the  ground  of  certain 
grievances  suffered  by  the  Westminster  scholars  at  Trini- 
ty College.  In  1728  he  was  more  successful.  Some  Fel- 
lows of  Trinity  joined  him  in  a  fresh  attempt  to  obtain 
a  visitation  of  the  College  by  the  Bishop  of  Ely.  There 
was,  in  fact,  good  reason  for  it.  Bentley's  rule  had  be- 
come practically  absolute,  and  therefore  unconstitutional. 
W^hile  Colbatch's  new  allies  were  preparing  their  meas- 
ures death  nearly  saved  them  the  trouble.  George  II.  had 
visited  Cambridge,  and  liad  been  received  in  full  state  at 


VII.  I  UKNTLEY  AS  MASTER  OF  TRINITY.  lir. 

Trinity  College.  Lcntlcy,  who  \va.s  subject  to  severe  colds, 
had  caught  a  chill  during  the  ceremonies  of  the  reception, 
in  tlic  course  of  which  ho  liad  been  called  on  to  present 
no  fewer  than  fifty-eight  Doctors  of  Divinity.  Uc  was 
seized  with  fever.  For  some  days  his  life  was  in  most  im- 
minent danger.  But  he  rallied,  and,  after  talking  the  wa- 
ters at  Bath,  recovered.  Five  Counsel  having  expressed 
an  opinion  that  the  Bishop  of  Ely  was  General  Visitor  of 
the  College,  Dr.  Greene,  who  now  held  that  see,  cited  Bent- 
ley  to  appear  before  him.  Bentlcy  did  so ;  but  present!}' 
obtained  a  rule  from  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  staying 
the  Bishop's  proceedings  on  the  ground  that  the  articles 
of  accusation  included  matters  not  cognizable  by  the  Bish- 
op. The  question  of  the  Bishop's  jurisdiction  was  next 
brought  before  the  King's  Bench.  The  Court  decided 
that  the  Bishop  was  in  this  cause  Visitor  —  but  again 
stayed  his  proceedings  —  this  time  on  the  ground  of  a 
technical  informality.  The  prosecutors  now  appealed  to 
the  House  of  Lords.  The  House  of  Lords  reversed  the 
decision  of  the  King's  Bench,  and  empowered  the  Bishop 
to  try  Bentlcy  on  twenty  of  the  sixty-four  counts  which 
had  been  preferred. 

After  the  lapse  of  nearly  twenty  years,  Bentlcy  was 
once  more  arraigned  at  Ely  House.  This  second  trial  be- 
gan on  June  13,  1733.  On  April  27,  1734,  the  Bishop 
gave  judgment.  Bentlcy  was  found  guilty  of  dilapidating 
the  College  goods  and  violating  the  College  Statutes.  He 
was  sentenced  to  be  deprived  of  the  Mastership. 

At  last  the  long  chase  was  over  and  the  prey  had  been 
run  to  earth.  No  shifts  or  doublings  could  save  him  now. 
It  only  remained  to  execute  the  sentence.  The  Bishop 
sent  down  to  Cambridge  three  copies  of  his  judgment. 
One  was  for  Bentloy.     Another  was  to  be  posted  on  the 


116  BEXTLEY.  [chap. 

gates  of  Trinity  College.     A  third  was  to  be  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  Vice-master. 

The  fortieth  Statute  of  Elizabeth,  on  which  the  judg- 
ment rested,  prescribes  that  the  Master,  if  convicted  by 
the  Visitor,  shall  be  deprived  by  the  agency  of  the  Vice- 
master.  It  has  been  thought — and  Monk  adopts  the  view 
— that  the  word  Vice-master  here  is  a  mere  clerical  error 
for  Visitor.  The  tenor  of  the  Statute  itself  first  led  me 
to  doubt  this  plausible  theory.  For  it  begins  by  saying 
that  a  peccant  Master  shall  first  be  admonished  by  the 
Vice-master  and  Seniors  :  per  Vice  Mayistrum,  etc., .  . .  ad- 
moneatur.  If  obdurate,  he  is  then  to  be  examined  by  the 
Visitor ;  and,  if  convicted,  per  eiindeni  Vice-magistrum  Of- 
ficio Magistri  privetur.  This  seems  to  mean  :  "  let  him 
be  deprived  by  the  same  Vice-master  who  had  first  admon- 
ished him."  The  Statute  intended  to  provide  for  the  exe- 
cution of  the  sentence  by  the  College  itself,  without  the 
scandal  of  any  external  intervention  beyond  the  purely  Ju- 
dicial interposition  of  the  Visitor.  I  have  since  learned 
that  the  late  Francis  Martin,  formerly  Vice -master,  dis- 
cussed this  point  in  a  short  paper  (Nov.  12,  1857),  which 
Dr.  Luard's  kindness  has  enabled  me  to  see.  Dr.  Monk 
had  seen  a  copy  of  the  Statutes  in  which  Visitatorem  was 
written  as  a  correction  over  Vice-magistrum.  He  believed 
this  copy  to  be  the  original  one;  and  when  in  1846  Mar- 
tin showed  him  the  really  authentic  copy — with  Elizabeth's 
signature  and  the  Great  Seal — in  the  Muniment-room,  he 
at  once  said,  "  I  never  saw  that  book."  There  the  words 
stand  clearly  Vice-magrm,  as  in  the  Statutes  of  Philip  and 
Mary ;  there  is  no  correction,  superscript  or  marginal ;  and 
the  vellum  shows  that  there  has  been  no  erasure.  The 
Vice-master,  who  takes  the  chief  part  in  admitting  the 
Master  (Stat.  Cap.  2),  is  the  natural  minister  of  depriva- 


VII.]  EENTLEY  AS  MASTER  OF  TRIXITV.  117 

tion.  Bcntley's  Counsel  advised  the  Vice  -  master,  Dr. 
llackct,  to  refrain  from  acting  until  he  had  taken  legal 
opinion.  Meanwhile  Bentley  continued  to  act  as  Master, 
to  the  indignation  of  his  adversaries,  and  the  astonishment 
of  the  world.  An  examination  for  College  scholarships 
was  going  on  just  then.  On  such  occasions  in  former 
years  Bentley  had  often  set  the  candidates  to  write  on 
some  theme  suggestive  of  his  own  position.  Thus,  at  the 
height  of  his  monarchy,  he  gave  them,  from  Virgil,  "  Xo 
one  of  this  number  shall  go  away  without  a  gift  from 
me ;"  and  once,  at  a  pinch  in  his  wars,  from  Homer, "  De- 
spoil others,  but  keep  hands  off  Hector."  This  time  he 
had  a  very  apposite  text  for  the  young  composers,  from 
Terence :  "  This  is  your  plea  now — that  I  have  been  turned 
out:  look  you,  there  arc  ups  and  downs  in  all  things." 
Dr.  Ilacket,  however,  had  no  mind  to  stand  long  in  the 
breach;  and  on  May  17,  1734,  he  resigned  the  Vice-mas- 
tership, lie  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Richard  Walker,  a 
friend  on  whom  Bentley  could  rely.  During  the  next 
four  years,  every  resource  which  ingenuity  could  suggest 
was  employed  to  force  Dr.  Walker  into  executing  the  sen- 
tence of  deprivation  on  Bentley.  A  petition  was  present- 
ed by  Colbatch's  party  to  the  House  of  Lords,  which  the 
peers,  after  a  debate,  permitted  to  be  withdrawn.  Dr. 
Walker  now  effected  a  compromise  between  Bentley  and 
some  of  the  hostile  Fellows.  But  Colbatch  persevered. 
Three  different  motions  were  made  in  the  Court  of  Iving's 
Bench ;  first,  for  a  writ  to  compel  Dr.  Walker  to  act ; 
next,  for  a  writ  to  compel  the  Bishop  of  Ely  to  compel 
Dr.  Walker  to  act ;  then,  for  a  writ  to  compel  the  Bishop 
to  do  his  own  duty  as  General  Visitor.  All  in  vain.  On 
April  22, 1738,  the  Court  rejected  the  last  of  these  appli- 
cations. 

6* 


118  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

That  day  marks  the  end  of  the  strife  begun  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1710:  it  had  thus  lasted  a  year  longer  than  the 
Peloponnesian  AVar.  It  has  two  main  chapters.  The 
first  is  the  fourteen  years'  struggle  from  1710  to  1724, 
in  which  Miller  was  the  leader  down  to  his  withdrawal  in 
1719.  The  years  1725-1727  were  a  pause.  Then  the 
ten  years'  struggle,  from  1728  to  1738,  was  organised 
and  maintained  by  Colbatch.  Meanwhile  many  of  the 
persons  concerned  were  advanced  in  age.  Three  Aveeks 
after  the  King's  Bench  had  refused  the  third  mandamus. 
Bishop  Greene  died  at  the  age  of  eighty.  Dr.  Colbatch 
was  seventy-five.  Bentley  himself  was  seventy-seven.  If 
he  had  wanted  another  classical  theme  for  the  candidates 
in  the  scholarship  examination,  he  might  have  given  them 
— "  One  man  by  his  delay  hath  restored  our  fortunes." 
He  was  under  sentence  of  deprivation,  but  only  one  per- 
son could  statutably  deprive  him ;  that  person  declined 
to  move ;  and  no  one  could  make  him  move.  Bentley 
therefore  remained  master  of  the  field — and  of  the  College. 

We  remember  the  incorrigible  old  gentleman  in  the 
play,  whose  habit  of  litigation  was  so  strong  that,  when 
precluded  from  further  attendance  on  the  public  law- 
courts,  he  got  up  a  little  law-court  at  home,  and  prose- 
cuted his  dog.  Bentley's  occupation  with  the  King's 
Bench  ceased  in  April,  1738.  In  July  he  proceeded 
against  Dr.  Colbatch  at  Cambridge  in  the  Consistorial 
Court  of  the  Bishop  of  Ely,  for  the  recovery  of  certain 
payments  called  "proxies,"  alleged  to  be  due  from  Col- 
batch, as  Rector  of  Orwell,  to  Bentley,  as  Archdeacon  of 
the  diocese.  The  process  lasted  eighteen  months,  at  the 
end  of  which  Dr.  Colbatch  had  to  pay  six  years'  arrears 
and  costs. 

Looking^back  on  Bentley's  long  war  with  the  Fellows, 


VII.]  IIKNTLEV  AS  MASTER  UF  TKINITV.  IIU 

one  asks,  AVIio  was  most  to  blame  ?  De  Quinccy  approves 
Dr.  Parr's  opinion — expressed  long  after  Bcntlcy's  death 
— that  the  College  was  wrong,  and  Bentley  right.  But 
De  Quinccy  goes  further.  Even  granting  that  Bentley 
was  wrong,  De  Quinccy  says,  we  ought  to  vote  him  right, 
"  for  by  this  means  the  current  of  one's  sympathy  with 
an  illustrious  man  is  cleared  of  ugly  obstructions."  It  is 
good  to  be  in  sympathy  with  an  illustrious  man,  but  it  is 
better  still  to  be  just.  The  merits  of  tlic  controversy  be- 
tween Bentley  and  the  Fellows  have  two  aspects,  legal  and 
moral.  The  legal  question  is  simple.  Had  Bentley,  as 
Master,  brought  himself  within  the  meaning  of  the  forti- 
eth Elizabethan  Statirte,  and  deserved  the  penalty  of  dep- 
rivation ?  Certainly  he  bad.  It  was  so  found  on  two 
distinct  occasions,  twenty  years  apart,  after  a  prolonged 
investigation  by  lawyers.  Morally,  the  first  question  is : 
Was  Bentley  obliged  to  break  the  Statutes  in  order  to 
keep  some  higher  law?  He  certainly  was  not.  It  can- 
not be  shown  that  the  Statutes  were  in  conflict  with  any 
project  which  he  entertained  for  the  good  of  the  College ; 
and,  if  they  had  been  so,  the  proper  course  for  him  was 
not  to  violate  them,  but  to  move  constitutionally  for  their 
alteration.  A  further  moral  question  concerns  the  nature 
of  his  personal  conduct  towards  the  Fellows.  This  con- 
duct might  conceivably  have  been  so  disinterested  and 
considerate  as  to  give  him  some  equitable  claim  on  their 
forbearance,  though  they  might  feel  bound  to  resist  the 
course  which  he  pursued.  His  conduct  was,  in  fact,  of  an 
opposite  character.  On  a  broad  view  of  the  whole  matter, 
from  1710  to  1738,  the  result  is  this.  Legall}-,  the  Col- 
lege had  been  right,  and  Bentley  wrong.  Morally,  there 
had  been  faults  on  both  parts ;  but  it  was  Bentley's  intol- 
erable behaviour  which  first,  and  after  long  forbearance. 


120  BENTLEY.  [chap.tii. 

forced  the  Fellows  into  an  active  defence  of  the  common 
interests.  The  words  "  Farewell  peace  to  Trinity  Col- 
lege" were  pronounced  by  Bentley.  It  is  not  a  relevant 
plea  that  his  academic  ideal  was  higher  than  that  of  the 
men  whose  rights  he  attacked. 

The  College  necessarily  suffered  for  a  time  from  these 
long  years  of  domestic  strife  which  had  become  a  public 
scandal.  Almost  any  other  society,  perhaps,  Avould  have 
been  permanently  injured.  But  Trinity  College  had  the 
strength  of  unique  traditions,  deeply  rooted  in  the  history 
of  the  country ;  and  the  excellent  spirit  shown  by  its  best 
men,  in  the  time  which  immediately  followed  Bentley's, 
soon  dispelled  the  cloud.  When  the  grave  had  closed 
over  those  feuds,  the  good  which  Bentley  had  done  lived 
in  better  tests  of  merit,  and  in  the  traditional  association 
of  the  College  with  the  encouragement  of  rising  sciences. 

Now  we  must  turn  to  an  altogether  different  side  which, 
throughout  these  stormy  years,  is  presented  by  the  activity 
of  this  extraordinary  man. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

LITERARY    WORK    AFTER    1700. HORACE. 

From  the  beginning  of  IVOO  to  tbe  summer  of  1702  Ecnt- 
ley  was  constantly  occnpicd  with  University  or  College 
affairs.  On  August  2,  1702,  Le  writes  to  Graevius  at 
Utrecht :  "  You  must  know  that  for  the  last  two  years  I 
have  hardly  had  two  days  free  for  literature."  This  was 
perhaps  the  longest  decisive  interruption  of  literary  work 
in  his  whole  life.  Nearly  all  his  subsequent  writings  were 
finished  in  haste,  and  many  of  them  were  so  timed  as  to 
appear  at  moments  when  he  bad  a  special  reason  for  wish- 
ing to  enlist  sympathy.  But  his  studies,  as  distinguished 
from  his  acts  of  composition,  appear  to  have  been  seldom 
broken  off  for  more  than  short  spaces,  even  when  be  was 
most  liarassed  by  external  troubles.  Ilis  wonderful  nerve 
and  will  enabled  him  to  concentrate  his  spare  hours  on  his 
own  reading,  at  times  when  other  men  would  have  been 
able  to  think  of  nothing  but  threatened  ruin. 

His  early  years  at  Trinity  College  offer  several  instances 
of  his  generous  readiness  to  help  and  encourage  other 
scholars.  One  of  these  was  Ludolph  Kiistcr,  a  young 
Wcstphalian  then  living  at  Cambridge,  whom  Bentlcy  as- 
sisted with  an  edition  of  the  Greek  lexicographer  Suidas, 
and  afterwards  with  an  edition  of  Aristophanes.  Another 
was  a  young  Dutchman,  destined  to  celebrity — Tiberius 


122  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

Heinsterhuys.  Bentley  had  sent  him  a  kindly  criticism 
on  an  edition  of  Julius  Polkix,  pointing  out  certain  defects 
of  metrical  knowledge.  The  effect  on  Hemsterhuys  has 
been  described  by  his  famous  pupil,  David  Ruhnken.  At 
first  he  was  plunged  in  despair :  then  he  roused  himself  to 
intense  effort.  To  his  dying  day  he  revered  Bentley,  and 
would  hear  nothing  against  him.  The  story  recalls  that 
of  F.  Jacobs,  the  editor  of  the  Greek  Anthology,  who  was 
spurred  into  closer  study  of  metre  by  the  censures  of  God- 
frey Hermann.  In  1709  John  Davies,  Fellow  of  Queens' 
College,  Cambridge,  published  an  edition  of  Cicero's  "  Tus- 
culan  Disputations,"  with  an  appendix  of  critical  notes  by 
Bentley.  The  notes  were  disparaged  in  a  review  called 
the  Bibliotheque  Choisie  by  the  Swiss  John  Le  Clerc,  then 
leader  of  the  Arminians  in  Holland;  a  versatile  but  shal- 
low man,  who  had  touched  the  surface  of  philosophy,  and 
was  now  ambitious  of  figuring  on  the  surface  of  classical 
literature.  Some  months  later  Le  Clerc  edited  the  frag- 
ments of  the  Greek  comic  poets,  Menander  and  Philemon. 
Nettled  by  the  review,  Bentley  wrote  his  own  emendations 
on  323  of  these  fragments.  Pie  restored  them  metrically, 
showing  that  Le  Clerc  had  mixed  them  with  words  from 
the  prose  texts  in  which  they  occur,  .and  had  then  cut  the 
compound  into  lengths  of  twelve  syllables,  regardless  of 
scansion.  Bentley's  manuscript,  under  the  name  of  "  Phil- 
eleutherus  Lipsiensis,"  was  transmitted  to  a  scholar  at 
Utrecht,  Peter  Burmann,  who  willingly  used  the  permis- 
sion to  publish  it.  The  first  edition  was  sold  in  three 
weeks.  Le  Clerc  learned  who  "  Philcleutherus"  was,  and 
wrote  a  violent  letter  to  Bentley.  Bentley  made  a  caustic 
reply.  He  has  been  charged  with  denying  the  authorship. 
lie  does  not  do  so ;  but  he  shows  a  mischievous  pleasure 
in  puzzling  lii<  fMi-i,)n«;  correspondent. 


VIII. J  MTEUARY  WORK  AFTKli  17imi._1|(i1;A(  K.  123 

As  early  as  1702  Bcntloy  had  been  meditating  an  edi- 
tion of  Horace.  I  translate  from  liis  Latin  preface  his 
own  ai'count  of  the  motive: 

"  When;  a  few  years  ago  [/.  p.,  in  ITOO],  I  was  promoted 
to  a  statinn  in  which  ofiicial  duties  and  harassing  cares, 
daily  surging  about  me,  liad  distracted  me  from  all  deeper 
studies,  I  resolved — in  order  that  I  might  not  wholly  for- 
get the  Muses  and  my  old  loves — to  set  about  editing 
some  writer  of  the  pleasanter  sort,  comparatively  light  in 
style  and  matter,  such  as  would  make  in  me,  rather  than 
claim  from  me,  a  calm  and  untroubled  mind ;  a  work  that 
could  be  done  bit  by  bit  at  odd  hours,  and  would  brook 
a  thousand  interruptions  without  serious  loss.  My  choice 
was  Horace  ;  not  because  I  deemed  that  I  could  restore 
and  correct  more  things  in  him  than  in  almost  any  other 
Latin  or  (xreek  author;  but  because  he,  above  all  the 
ancients — thanks  to  his  merit,  or  to  a  peculiar  genius  and 
gift  for  pleasing — was  familiar  to  men's  hands  and  hearts. 
The  form  and  scope  of  my  work  I  defined  and  limited 
thus ; — that  I  should  touch  only  those  things  which  con- 
cern the  soundness  and  purity  of  the  text;  but  should 
wholly  pass  by  the  mass  of  those  things  which  relate  to 
history  and  ancient  manners — that  vast  domain  and  labo- 
ratory of  comment.'''' 

Bcntley  began  printing  his  Horace,  with  his  own  emen- 
dations embodied  in  the  text  and  the  common  readings 
given  at  the  foot  of  the  page,  before  he  had  written  the 
critical  notes  which  were  to  justify  these  changes.  In 
August,  170G,  he  says:  "I  have  printed  three  new  sheets 
in  it  this  last  fortnight,  and  I  hope  shall  go  on  to  finish 
by  next  spring."  Sinister  auguries  were  already  heard 
in  certain  quarters.  ''  I  do  not  wonder,"  he  writes  to  a 
friend,  "that  some  .  .  .  do  talk  so  wildly  about  my  Hor- 


124  BENT  LEY.  [chap. 

ace.  ...  I  am  assured  none  of  them  \vill  write  against  xny 
notes.  They  have  had  enough  of  me,  and  will  hereafter 
let  me  alone."  The  rumour  of  Bentley's  new  labours  in- 
spired his  old  enemy,  Dr.  King,  with  a  satire  called  "Hor- 
ace in  Trinity  College."  Horace  is  supposed  to  have  ful- 
filled his  dream  of  visiting  our  remote  island  {visam  Bri- 
tannos),  but  to  have  lost  the  airy  form  in  which  he  pro- 
posed to  make  that  excursion — under  the  influence  of 
solid  cheer  supplied  to  him  from  the  butteries  of  Trinity 
College. 

Instead  of  appearing  in  the  spring  of  1707,  Bentley's 
Horace  was  not  ready  till  December  8,  l7ll.  The  sum- 
mer months  were  the  only  part  of  the  year  in  which  he 
could  do  much ;  and  from  his  preface  it  would  appear 
that  between  1702  and  1711  there  had  been  four  sum- 
mers in  which  he  made  no  progress.  The  notes  on  the 
text  fill  448  quarto  pages  of  small  print,  in  double  column, 
at  the  end  of  the  volume.  It  is  characteristic  of  Bentley 
that  a  great  part  of  these  notes  were  written  in  about  five 
months — July  to  November,  1711.  He  says  himself  that 
his  work  was  thrown  off  "in  the  first  impetus  and  glow" 
of  his  thoughts,  and  sent  to  the  press  almost  before  the 
ink  was  dry.  It  was  rather  his  way  to  brag  of  this;  but 
it  must  be  literally  true,  to  a  great  extent,  of  the  notes. 
He  bad  his  own  reasons  for  haste,  and  worked  at  high 
pressure.  The  Horace  was  to  be  an  offering  to  Harley, 
■who  just  then  was  the  umpire  of  Bentley's  fortunes.  In 
the  dedication  to  the  Tory  Premier,  Bentley  openly  an- 
nounces himself  as  a  converted  Whig,  by  saying  that 
Ma3cenas  did  not  like  Horace  the  less  for  having  borne 
arms  with  Brutus  and  Cassius;  not  a  very  happy  allusion, 
when  one  remembers  that  the  poet  ran  away  at  Philippi. 

Bentley's   Horace   is  a   monumental   proof  of  his   iu- 


viii]         LITKRARV  WOilK  AFTEIl  17«m».— IIOUACK.  123 

geniiit}',  Icnrniiiij,  and  argumentative  skill.  The  notes 
abound  in  hints  on  rjrainniar  and  metre  which  liave  a  gen- 
eral value.  In  rcadino-  them  one  feels,  too,  the  "  impetus 
and  glow  "  of  which  their  author  speaks:  one  feels  almost 
everywhere  the  powerful  genius  of  the  man.  I>ut  while 
the  Horace  shows  Bentley's  critical  method  on  a  large 
scale  and  in  a  most  striking  form,  it  illustrates  his  defects 
as  conspicuously  as  his  strength.  Bcntley  had  first  dis- 
played his  skill  by  restoring  deeply  corrupted  passages  of 
Greek  writers,  especially  poets.  Ucroic  remedies  were 
required  there.  With  his  wide  reading,  unrivalled  metri- 
cal knowledge,  and  keen  insight,  Bcntley  had  been  able  to 
make  some  restorations  which  seemed  little  short  of  mirac- 
ulous. Hopeless  nonsense,  under  his  touch,  became  lucid 
and  coherent.  The  applause  whicli  followed  these  efforts 
exalted  his  confidence  in  his  own  gift  of  divination.  His 
mind  was  confirmed  in  a  bent  which  kept  him  constantly 
on  the  lookout  for  possible  improvements  of  word  or 
phrase  in  everything  that  he  read. 

Now,  Horace  was  one  of  the  most  perilous  subjects 
that  Bcntley  could  have  chosen.  Not  so  much  because 
the  text  of  Horace,  as  we  have  it,  is  particularly  pure. 
There  are  many  places  in  whicli  corruption  is  certain,  and 
conjecture  is  the  only  resource.  But,  owing  to  his  pecul- 
iar cast  of  mind  and  style,  Horace  is  one  of  the  very  last 
authors  whose  text  should  be  touched  without  absolute 
necessity.  In  the  Satires  and  Epistles  his  language  is 
coloured  by  two  main  influences,  subtly  interfused,  each 
of  which  is  very  difficult,  often  impossible,  for  a  modern 
reader  to  seize.  One  is  the  colloquial  idiom  of  R<iman 
society.  The  other  is  literary  association,  derived  from 
sources,  old  Italian  or  Greek,  which  in  many  oases  are 
lost.     In  the  Odes,  the  second  of  these  two  influences  is 


126  BENTLEY.  [chap, 

naturally  predominant ;  and  in  them  the  danger  of  tam- 
pering is  more  obvious,  though  perhaps  not  really  greater, 
than  in  the  Satires  or  Epistles.  Now,  Bentley's  tendency 
f  was  to  try  Horace  by  the  tests  of  clear  syntax,  strict  logic, 
and  normal  usage.  He  was  bent  on  making  Horace 
"  sound  "  in  a  sense  less  fine,  but  even  more  rigorous,  than 
that  in  which  Pope  is  "  correct." 

Thus,  in  the  "  Art  of  Poetry,"  Horace  is  speaking  of  a 
critic  :  "  If  you  told  him,  after  two  or  three  vain  attempts, 
that  you  could  not  do  better,  he  would  bid  you  erase  your 
woik,  and  put  your  ill-turned  verses  on  the  anvil  again  " 
{et  male  tornatos  incudi  reddere  versus).  "  Ill-turned  " — 
"  anvil !"  said  Bentley  :  "  what  has  a  lathe  to  do  with  an 
anvil?"  And  so,  for  male  tornatos^  he  writes  male  ter 
natos,  "thrice  shaped  amiss."  Horace  elsewhere  speaks 
of  verses  as  incultis  .  .  .  et  male  natis.  To  Bentley's  read- 
ing, however,  it  may  be  objected  that  the  order  of  words 
required  by  the  sense  is  ter  male  natos :  for  male  ter  natos 
ought  to  mean,  cither  "  unhappily  thrice-born  " — like  the 
soul  of  a  Pythagorean,  unfortunate  in  two  migrations;  or 
"  barely  thrice-born  " — as  if,  in  some  process  which  re- 
quired three  refinements,  the  third  was  scarcely  completed. 
And  then,  if  we  are  not  satisfied  with  the  simplest  account 
of  tornatos — viz.,  that  Horace  lapsed  into  a  mixture  of 
common  metaphors — it  admits  of  a  strict  defence.  The 
verses  have  been  put  on  the  lathe,  but  have  not  been  suc- 
cessfully rounded  and  polished.  Then,  says  Horace's  critic, 
they  must  go  back  to  the  anvil,  and  be  forged  anew,  pass- 
ing again  througli  that  first  process  by  which  the  rough 
material  is  brought  into  shape  for  the  lathe.  Yet  Bentley 
was  so  sure  of  his  ter  natos  that  persons  who  doubted  it 
seemed  no  better  than  "  moles." 

Another  instance  will  illustrate  the  danger  of  altering 


viit]  MTKRAUY  WdKK  AKTEIl  17u  ».- HoHACi:.  127 

toiiclies  iti  Horace  wliich  may  liavc  been  suixiTostod  by 
suiuc  lost  literary  soiirce.  In  the  Otlcs  (iii,  iv.  45)  Horace 
speaks  of  Jupiter  as  ruling  "  cities  and  troubled  realms,  and 
gods,  and  the  multitudes  of  men  "  (urbes  .  .  .  mortalisquc 
turbas).  "Tell  me,  pray,"  cries  Bcntley,  "  wliat  is  the 
sense  of  'cities'  and  'the  iiiultitu(h.'s  cif  men  f  This  is 
silly — mere  tautology."  And  so  he  changes  urhcs,  "cities," 
into  umbras,  "  the  shades  "  of  the  departed.  Now,  as 
Munro  lias  pointed  out,  Horace  may  liavc  had  in  mind  a 
passage  in  the  Epicharmus,  a  philosophical  poem  by  En- 
nius,  of  which  a  few  lines  remain:  where  it  is  said  of  Ju- 
piter, '''^mortalis  atque  urhes  beluasquc  omnes  iuvat."  One 
or  two  of  Bentlcy's  corrections  are  not  only  admirable  but 
almost  certain  (as  musto  Falerno  for  mislo  in  the  Satires 
II.  iv.  19).  A  few  more  have  reason  wholly  on  their  side, 
and  yet  are  not  intrinsically  probable.  Thus  in  the  Epistles 
(i.  vii.  20)  we  have  the  fable  of  the  fox,  who,  when  lean, 
crept  through  a  chink  into  a  granary,  and  there  grew  too 
fat  to  get  out  again.  "To  the  rescue,"  exclaims  Bentley, 
"ye  sportsmen,  rustics,  and  naturalists!  A  fox  eating 
grain  !"  And  so  Bcntley  changes  the  fox  into  a  field- 
mouse  {volpccula  into  nitedula).  But  the  okl  fabulist 
from  whom  Horace  got  the  story,  meaning  to  show  liow 
cunning  greed  may  overreach  itself,  had  chosen  the  animal 
which  is  the  type  of  cunning,  without  thinking  of  the 
points  on  which  Bentley  dwells,  the  structure  of  its  teeth 
and  its  digestive  organs. 

Bentley  has  made  altogether  between  TOO  and  800 
changes  in  the  text  of  Horace:  in  his  preface,  he  recalls 
19  of  these,  but  adds  a  new  one  {rcctis  oculis  for  siccis  in 
Odes  I.  iii.  18:  which  convinced  Porson).  His  paramount  I 
guide,  he  declares,  lias  been  his  own  faculty  of  divination. 
To  this,  he  says,  he  has  owed  more  corrections,  and  cor- 


128  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

rections  of  greater  certainty,  than  to  the  manuscripts — in 
using  which,  however,  where  he  does  use  them,  he  nearly 
always  shows  the  greatest  tact.  Now,  criticism  of  a  text 
has  only  one  proper  object — to  exhibit  what  the  author 
wrote.  It  is  a  different  thing  to  show  what  he  might 
have  written.  Bentley's  passion  for  the  exercise  of  his 
divining  faculty  hindered  him  from  keeping  this  simple 
fact  clearly  before  his  mind.  In  the  "Art  of  Poetry  "  (60) 
Horace  has:  "?7^  silvae  foliis  2^ronos  mutantur  in  annos :'''' 
"As  woods  suffer  change  of  leaves  with  each  declining 
year."  Nothing  could  be  less  open  to  suspicion — foliis 
being  an  ordinary  ablative  of  the  part  affected  (like  caj^ti 
aurihus  et  oculis  fpr  "deaf  and  blind").  Yet  Bentley 
must  needs  change  this  good  line  into  one  which  is  bad 
both  in  style  and  in  metre  :  "  Ut  silvis  folia  privos  mutan- 
tur in  annos,''''  "  As  woods  have  their  leaves  changed  with 
each  year;"  and  this  he  prints  in  his  text.  Speaking  of 
Bentley's  readings  in  the  mass,  one  may  say  that  Horace 
would  probably  have  liked  two  or  three  of  them — would 
have  allowed  a  very  few  more  as  not  much  better  or  worse 
than  his  own — and  would  have  rejected  the  immense  ma- 
jority with  a  smile  or  a  shudder. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  larger  sense  in  which  Bent- 
ley's Horace  is  a  model  of  conservative  prudence.  Recent 
German  criticism  has  inclined  to  the  view  that  Horace's 
works  are  interpolated  not  only  with  spurious  passages  but 
with  whole  spurious  poems.  Thus  Mr.  O.  F.  Gruppe  act- 
ually rejects  the  whole  of  the  beautiful  ode,  Tyrrhena 
Regum  Progenies  (iii.  xxix.).  Another  critic,  Mr.  Hof- 
mann-Peerlkamp,  regrets  that  Bentley's  haste  blinded  him 
to  many  interpolations.  Haupt,  Meineke,  Ritschl  have 
favoured  the  same  tendency.  The  prevailing  view  of  Eng- 
lish scholarship  is  that  the  solitary  interpolation  in  our 


VIII.]  LITKIJAKV   WOKK  AITKU   ITnn.—IIoU.VCE.  129 

Horace  consists  of  the  ciujlit  lines  ("  Luci/i  qnruu  sis  men- 
dosus,^''  lire.)  prefixed  to  Satire  i.  10,  and  probably  as  old, 
or  nearly  so,  as  the  poem  itself.  Bentlcy's  suspicions  are 
confined  to  a  few  single  lines  here  and  there.  But  there 
is  only  one  line  in  all  Horace  which  he  positively  con- 
demns. It  is  mainly  a  point  of  literary  criticism,  and  is  a 
curious  example  of  his  method.  I  give  it  in  Latin  and 
English  (Odes  iv.  viii.  15) : 

''  Xon  cclcrcs  fugac 
Rciectacquc  rctrorsum  Ilannibalis  minac, 
I^'on  inccmlia  CarUiagbm  hnpiae 
Eius  qui  domita  nomen  ab  Africa 
Lucratus  rcdiit  clarius  indicant 
Laudcs,  quani  Calabrac  Pieridcs." 

"  Xot  the  swift  flicrht 
And  menace  backward  hurled  of  Hannibal, 
Kot  itiipious  Cartha()c  unking  into  fire 
So  well  gives  forth  his  praises,  who  returned 
With  title  won  from  conquered  Africa, 
As  ye,  Calabria's  Muses." 

Now,  says  Bentlcy,  the  Scipio  (Africanus  maior)  who 
defeated  Hannibal  in  the  Second  Punic  War  is  a  differ- 
ent person  from  the  Scipio  (Africanus  minor)  who  burned 
Carthage  more  than  half  a  century  later.  How  can  it  be 
said  that  the  defeat  of  Hannibal  glorifies  the  destroyer  of 
Carthage?  And  so  Bcntley  Avould  leave  out  the  burning 
of  Carthage,  and  malce  the  whole  passage  refer  to  the  con- 
queror of  Hannibal.  The  answer  seems  plain.  Horace 
means :  "  The  glory  of  the  Scipios  never  reached  a  higher 
pinnacle  than  that  on  which  it  was  placed  by  the  Cala- 
brian  poet  Ennius,  when  he  described  the  defeat  of  Han- 
nibal by  the  elder  Africanus ;  though  that  achievement 
was  crowned  by  the  younger  Africanus,  when  he  finally 


130  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

destroyed  Carthage."  The  "praises"  of  the  younger  Af- 
ricanus  are  not  exclusively  his  personal  exploits,  but  the 
glories,  both  ancestral  and  personal,  of  his  name.  Then 
Bentley  objects  to  the  caesura  in  ^^ Hon  incendia  Carth\a- 
r/iiiis  imjnaey  But  what  of  the  undoubtedly  genuine 
verse,  '''' Dum  flagranlia  de\torquet  ad  oscula^^  (Odes  ii. 
xii.  25)?  "The  preposition  c?e,"  he  replies,  "is,  as  it 
were,  separated  from  the  verb  torquet — not  being  a  native 
part  of  that  word."  This  might  seem  a  bold  plea ;  but 
it  shows  his  knowledge.  In  old  Latin  inscriptions  the 
preposition  and  the  rest  of  the  word  are  often  disjoined — 
for  instance,  in  victo  could  stand  for  invicto  :  and  Bent- 
ley's  principle  Avould  apply  to  Horace's  '''' Arcanique  fides 
prodiga  per\lucidior  vitro''''  (Odes  i.  xviii.  16).  If,  how- 
ever, Carthaginis  has  not  the  privilege  of  a  compound,  it 
may  have  that  of  a  proper  name.  The  presence  of  a 
proper  name  has  been  urged  in  excuse  of  '''' Mentemque 
lym2)hat\am  Mareotico''''  (Od.  i.  xxxvii.  14),  "  Sjjectandus 
in  cert\amine  Martlo''''  (Od.  iv.  xiv.  17).  Bentley  does  not 
notice  this  ground  of  defence.  Finally,  he  rejects  "  Non 
incendia  Carthaginis  impiae"  as  a  verse  of  "manifestly 
monkish  spirit  and  colour." 

Bentley  was  the  first  modern  editor  who  followed  the 
best  ancient  authorities  in  calling  the  Odes  Carmina,  and 
not  Odae,  the  Satires  Sermones,  and  not  Satirae.  In  his 
preface  he  endeavours  to  settle  the  chronological  order  of 
Horace's  writings.  Previous  Horatian  critics — as  Faber, 
Dacier,  Masson  —  had  aimed  at  dating  separate  poems. 
Bentley  maintains  —  rightly,  no  doubt — that  the  poems 
were  originally  i^wS^isAec?,  as  we  have  them,  in  whole 
books.  He  further  assumes — with  much  less  probability 
— that  Horace  co7nposed  in  only  one  style  at  a  time,  first 
writing  satires ;  then  iambics  (the  "  Epodes  ") ;  then  the 


viii.]  LlTKliAUV  WOKK  AFTEU  ITon.—HuUACE.  131 

Odes — of  wliich  book  iv.  and  tlie  Carmen  Saccularc  came 
between  tbc  two  books  of  Epistles.  Bentley's  metbod 
is  too  rigid,  lie  argues  from  tbe  internal  evidence  too 
mucb  as  if  a  poet's  works  were  tbe  successive  numbers  of 
a  newspaper.  Yet  bere,  too — tbougb  some  of  bis  particu- 
lar views  are  arbitrary  or  wrong — be  laid  down  tbe  main 
lines  of  a  true  scbeme. 

Bentley's  Horace  immediately  brougbt  out  balf  a  dozen 
squibs — none  of  tbem  good — and  one  or  two  more  serious 
attacks.  Jobn  Ker,  a  scbool-master,  assailed  Bentley's  La- 
tinity  in  four  Letters  (1713);  and  some  years  later  tbe 
same  ground  was  taken  by  Ricbard  Jobnson — wbo  bad 
been  a  contemporary  of  Bentley's  at  Cainbridgo,  and  was 
now  master  of  Xottingbam  Scbool — in  bis  ^'Aristarchus 
Anti-Bentleianus''''  (1717).  Tbe  fact  is  tbat  Bentley  wrote 
Latin  as  be  wrote  Enoli.sb — witb  racy  vigour,  and  witli  a 
wealtb  of  trencbaiit  plirascs;  but  be  was  not  minutely  Cic- 
eronian. Tbe  two  critics  were  able  to  pick  some  boles. 
One  of  Bentley's  slips  was  amusing;  be  promises  tbe  read- 
ers of  bis  Horace  tbat  tbcy  will  find  purity  of  idiom  in  bis 
Latin  notes — and  calls  it  sermonis  puritalem — wbicb  bap- 
pens  not  to  be  pure  Latin.  In  1721  a  rival  Horace  was 
publisbed  by  Alexander  Cunningbam,  a  Scottisb  scbolar  of 
great  learning  and  industry.  His  emendations  are  some- 
times execrable,  but  often  most  ingenious.  His  work  is 
marred,  bowever,  by  a  mean  spite  against  Bentley,  wbom 
be  constantly  tries  to  represent  as  a  plagiarist  or  a  blun- 
derer— and  wbo  ignored  bim. 

The  first  edition  of  Bentley's  Horace  (1711)  went  off 
rapidly,  and  a  second  was  required  in  1712.  This  was 
publisbed  by  tbe  eminent  firm  of  Wetstein  at  Amsterdam. 
Paper  and  printing  Avcre  cbeaper  tbere  —  an  important 
point  when  the  book  was  to  reach  all  scholars.     Thomas 


132  BENTLEY.  [chap.  viii. 

Bentley,  the  nephew,  brought  out  a  smaller  edition  of  the 
work  in  1713,  dedicating  it — with  logical  propriety — to 
Harley's  son.  The  line  in  the  Dunciad  (ii.  205) — "Bent- 
ley  his  mouth  with  classic  flatt'ry  opes  " — is  fixed  by  War- 
burton  on  Thomas  Bentley,  "a  small  critic,  who  aped  his 
uncle  in  a  little  Horace."  Among  other  compliments, 
Bentley  received  one  or  two  which  he  could  scarcely  have 
anticipated.  Le  Clerc,  whom  he  had  just  been  lashing  so 
unmercifully,  wrote  a  review  in  the  Bibliotheque  Ckoisie 
which  was  at  once  generous  and  judicious.  Bentley  also 
received  a  graceful  note  from  Atterbury,  now  Dean  of 
Christ  Church.  "  I  am  indebted  to  you.  Sir,"  says  the 
Dean,  "for  the  great  pleasure  and  instruction  I  have  re- 
ceived from  that  excellent  performance ;  though  at  y® 
same  time  I  cannot  but  own  to  you  the  uneasyness  I  felt 
when  I  found  how  many  things  in  Horace  there  were, 
which,  after  thirty  years'  acquaintance  with  him,  I  did 
not  understand."     There  is  much  of  Horace  in  that. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

OTUER    CLASSICAL    STCDIES. — TERENCE. — MANILIUS. 

HOMER. 

One  of  Bcntlcy's  few  intimate  friends  in  the  second  half 
of  his  life  was  Dr.  llichard  Mead,  an  eminent  physician, 
and  in  other  ways  also  a  remarkable  man.  After  gradu- 
ating at  the  University  of  Padua — which,  as  Cambridge 
men  will  remember,  had  been  the  second  alma  mater  of 
Dr.  John  Caius — Dr.  Mead  began  practice  at  Stepney  in 
1G96.  lie  rose  rapidly  to  the  front  rank  of  his  profession, 
in  which  he  stood  from  about  1720  to  his  death  in  1754. 
Dibdin  describes  him  with  quaint  enthusiasm.  "His 
house  was  the  general  receptacle  of  men  of  genius  and 
talent,  and  of  everything  beautiful,  precious,  or  rare.  His 
curiosities,  whether  books,  or  coins,  or  pictures,  were  laid 
open  to  the  public;  and  the  enterprising  student  and  ex- 
perienced antiquary  alike  found  amusement  and  a  courte- 
ous reception.  He  was  known  to  all  foreigners  of  intellect- 
ual distinction,  and  corresponded  both  with  the  artisan 
and  the  potentate." 

In  1721 — Bentley  being  in  London  at  the  time — Mead 
gave  him  a  copy  of  a  Greek  inscription  just  published  by 
the  accomplished  antiquary,  Edmund  Chishull,  who  had 
been  chaplain  to  the  English  Factory  at  Smyrna.  xV  mar- 
ble slab,  about  8  feet  7  inches  high  and  18  inches  broad, 
1 


134  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

had  been  found  in  the  Troad.  It  is  now  in  the  British 
Museum.  This  slab  had  supported  the  bust  of  a  person 
who  had  presented  some  pieces  of  plate  to  the  citizens  of 
Sigenin ;  on  the  upper  part,  an  inscription  in  Ionic  Greek 
records  the  gifts ;  lower  down,  nearly  the  same  words  are 
repeated  in  Attic  Greek,  with  the  addition — "  ..^sopus  and 
his  brothers  made  me."  Bentley  dashed  off  a  letter  to 
Mead;  there  had  been  no  bust  at  all,  he  said;  the  two  in- 
scriptions on  the  slab  were  merely  copied  from  two  of  the 
pieces  of  plate ;  the  artists  named  were  the  silversmiths. 
He  was  mistaken.  The  true  solution  is  clearly  that  which 
has  since  been  given  by  Kirchhoff.  The  Ionic  inscription 
was  first  carved  by  order  of  the  donor,  a  native  of  the 
Ionic  Proconnesus ;  the  lower  inscription  was  added  at 
Sigeum,  where  settlers  had  introduced  the  Attic  dialect,  on 
its  being  found  that  the  upper  inscription  could  not  easily 
be  read  from  beneath ;  ^Esopus  and  his  brothers  were  the 
stone-cutters.  Yet  Bcntley's  letter  incidentally  throws  a 
flash  of  light  on  a  point  not  belonging  to  its  main  subject. 
A  colossal  statue  of  Apollo  had  been  dedicated  in  Delos 
by  the  islanders  of  Naxos.  On  the  base  are  these  words : 
0/YT0Aie0EMIANAPIA2KAIT0S$EAAS.  Bentley 
read  this  {t)oFvtov  [=^rai/-oi7]  Xidov  eifi'',  ai'dptag  kciI  to 
cr^tAac,  an  iambic  trimeter  (with  hiatus) :  "  I  am  of  the 
same  stone,  statue  and  pedestal." 

After  this  instance  of  rashness,  it  is  right  to  record  a 
striking  success.  In  1728  ChishuU  published  an  inscrip- 
tion from  copies  made  by  the  travellers  Spon  and  Wheeler. 
Bentley,  in  a  private  letter,  suggested  some  corrections; 
but  ChishuU,  who  saw  the  criticisms  without  knowing 
the  author,  demurred  to  some  of  them,  thinking  that  the 
copies  could  not  have  been  so  inexact.  Some  years  later 
the  stone  itself  was  brought  to  England.     It  then  appeared 


13.]  OTIIEIi  CLASSICAL  STUDIKS.— TEUEXCE.  135 

that  the  copies  had  hoen  wronj;,  and  tliat  Bcntley's  con- 
jectural roadini,'  a^jrecd  in  every  particiihir  witli  the  niarhle 
itself.  That  marble  is  in  the  Uritish  Museum  :  it  was 
found  at  the  ancient  Chalcedon  on  the  Bosporus,  opposite 
Constantinople,  and  had  supported  a  statue  of  Zctis  Ourios, 
i.  <?.,  "  Zeus  the  giver  of  fair  winds."  He  had  a  famous 
temple  in  that  neighbourhood,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Black 
Sea,  where  voyagers  through  the  straits  were  ^Yont  to  make 
their  vows.  The  inscription  (3797  in  the  Corjnis)  consists 
of  four  elegiac  couplets,  of  wliich  the  style  would  justify 
us  in  supposing  that  they  were  at  least  as  old  as  the  ago 
of  Alexander :  I  translate  them  : 

"Zeus,  the  sure  guide  who  sends  the  favouring  gale, 
Claims  a  hist  vow  before  ye  spread  the  sail : 
If  to  tlic  Azure  Rocivs  your  course  ye  urge, 
Wiiere  in  the  strait  Poseidon  lifts  the  surge, 
Or  through  the  broad  ^Egean  seek  your  home. 
Here  lay  your  gift — and  speed  across  the  foam. 
Behold  the  god,  whose  wafting  breath  divine 
All  mortals  welcome  :  Philon  raised  the  sign." 

It  was  shortly  before  his  death  in  1742  that  this  proof 
of  his  acutencss  was  given  to  the  world  (by  John  Taylor), 
along  with  another.  A  Persian  manuscript  bore  the  date 
^'■Yonane  (Ionian)  1504:"  Bentley  showed  that  this  was 
reckoned  from  the  foundation  of  the  dynasty  of  ScleucidfB 
— "Ionian"  being  the  general  Oriental  name  for  "Uel- 
Icne" — and  meant  the  year  of  1193  of  our  era. 

In  1724  an  edition  of  Terence  was  published  by  Dr. 
Francis  Ilare.  Bentley  had  long  meditated  such  a  work. 
lie  was  never  a  jealous  man.  But  he  had  a  good  deal  of 
the  feeling  expressed  by  the  verse,  "  Shame  to  be  mute 
and  let  barbarians  speak."  He  put  fortli  all  his  powers. 
At  the  beginning  of  1726 — that  is,  some  eighteen  months 


136  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

after  the  appearance  of  Hare's  Terence — Bentlcy's  came 
out.  And  it  was  not  Terence  only.  Ilare  had  promised 
tlie  Fables  of  Phajdrus,  and  Bcntley  forestalled  him  by 
giving  tliese  in  the  same  volume;  also  the  "Sentences" 
(27.3  lines)  of  the  so-called  Publius  Syr  us. 

The  Terence  is  one  of  Bentlcy's  titles  to  fame.  Any 
attempt  to  criticise  such  an  author's  text  demands  a  knowl- 
edge of  his  metres.  Bentley  was  the  first  modern  who 
threw  any  clear  light  on  the  metrical  system  of  the  Latin 
dramatists.  Here,  as  in  other  cases,  it  is  essential  to  re- 
member the  point  at  which  he  took  up  the  work.  Little 
or  nothing  of  scientific  value  had  been  done  before  him.. 
The  prevalent  view  had  been  based  on  that  of  Priscian, 
who  recognised  in  Terence  only  two  metres,  the  iambic 
and  the  trochaic  —  the  metre  of  which  the  basis  is  ^-, 
and  that  of  which  it  is  --.  Every  verse  was  to  be  forced 
into  one  or  other  of  these  moulds,  by  assuming  all  manner 
of  "  licences  "  on  the  part  of  the  poet.  Nay,  Priscian  says 
that  in  his  time  some  persons  denied  that  there  Avere  any 
metres  in  Terence  at  all !  ("  Quosdam  vel  ahnegare  esse 
in  Terentii  comoediis  metra.'''')  In  the  preface  to  an  edi- 
tion of  Terence  which  appeared  almost  simultaneously 
with  Bentlcy's,  the  Dutch  editor,  Westerhof,  alludes  iron- 
ically to  a  hint  in  Bentlcy's  Horace  (Sat.  ii.  v.  79)  that 
it  was  possible  to  restore  the  Terentian  metres;  a  sneer 
which  it  was  Westerhof's  fate  to  expiate  by  compiling  the 
index  for  Bentley's  second  edition  when  it  was  published 
at  Amsterdam  in  1727.  The  scholars  of  the  sixteenth 
century  who  had  treated  the  subject — Glareanus,  Ei-asmus, 
Faernus — had  followed  the  "  licence  "  theory.  Bentley's 
object  was  to  reclaim  as  much  as  possible  from  this  sup- 
posed realm  of  "  licence,"  and  enlarge  the  domain  of  law. 
He  points  out,  first,  the  variety  of  Terence's  metres,  and 


ix.J  oTliKli  CI.ASSICAL  STUDIES.— TERENCK.  i:i7 

illustrates  each  by  an  En[flislj  verse.  lie  tlien  defines  cer- 
tain metrical  tlillcronces  between  lionian  Comedy,  as  in 
Terence,  and  Roman  epic  poetry,  as  in  Virgil.  The  eliar- 
actcristic  of  Bcntley's  views  on  Tercntian  metre  consisted 
in  taking  account  of  accent  ("prosody"  in  the  proper 
sense),  and  not  solely  of  quantity.  To  judge  from  some 
of  Bcntley's  emendations  in  poetry,  his  ear  for  sound  was 
not  very  fine ;  but  his  ear  for  rhythm  was  exact.  Guided 
by  this,  he  could  see  that  the  influence  of  accent  in  Roman 
Comedy  sometimes  overruled  the  epic  and  lyric  canons  of 
quantitative  metre.  In  one  case,  however,  his  attention 
to  accent  led  him  into  an  erroneous  refinement.  In  Latin, 
he  says,  no  word  of  two  or  more  syllables  is  accented  on 
the  last  syllabic :  thus  it  is  virum,  not  virum.  Comic 
poets,  he  urges,  writing  for  popular  audiences,  had  to 
guard  as  much  as  possible  against  laying  a  metrical  stress 
on  these  final  svllables  which  could  not  support  an  accent. 
In  the  iambic  trimeter  they  could  not  observe  this  rule 
everywhere.  But  Terence,  said  ]3entley,  always  observes 
it  in  the  third  foot.  As  an  example,  I  may  take  this 
verse : 

"Ultro  ad  |  mc  vcnj|it  un|ieam  |  gnatiim  |  suam:" 

where  the  rule,  though  broken  in  the  5th  foot,  is  kept 
in  the  3rd.  But  Bentley  seems  not  to  have  noticed  that 
this  is  a  result  of  metre,  not  of  accent :  it  is  due  to  the 
caesura. 

Bentley  corrected  th.e  text  of  Terence  in  about  a  thou- 
sand places  ("  millc,  opinor,  locis,"  he  says) — chiefly  on 
metrical  grounds.  Yet  in  every  scene  of  every  play,  ac- 
cording to  Ritschl,  he  left  serious  blemishes.  That  only 
shows  what  was  the  state  of  the  field  in  which  Bentley 
broke  now  ground.     His  work  must  not  be  judged  as  if 


138  BENTLEY,  [chap. 

he  propounded  a  complete  metrical  doctrine.  Rallier  he 
threw  out  a  series  of  original  remarks,  right  in  some  points, 
■wrong  in  others,  pregnant  in  all.  G.  Hermann  and  Ritschl 
necessarily  speak  of  Bentlcy's  labours  on  Terence  with 
mingled  praise  and  censure ;  both,  however,  do  full  justice 
to  the  true  instinct  with  which  he  led  the  attack  on  the 
problem.  Modern  studies  in  Latin  metre  and  pronuncia- 
tion have  advanced  the  questions  treated  by  Bentley  to  a 
new  stage ;  but  his  merit  remains.  lie  was  the  j)ioneer 
of  metrical  knowledge  in  its  application  to  the  Latin 
drama. 

A  word  of  mention  is  due  to  the  very  curious  Latin 
speech  which  Bentley  has  printed  in  his  Terence  after 
the  sketch  of  the  metres.  It  was  delivered  by  him  on 
July  6,  1725,  when,  as  Regius  Professor  of  Divinity,  he 
had  occasion  to  present  seven  incepting  doctors  in  that 
faculty.  He  interprets  the  old  symbols  of  the  doctoral 
degree — the  cap — the  book — the  gold  ring — the  chair 
"believe  those  who  have  tried  it — no  bench  is  so  hard") 
— and  congratulates  the  University  on  the  beneficence  of 
George  I.  It  has  been  wondered  why  Bentley  inserted 
this  speech  in  his  Terence.  Surely  the  reason  is  evident. 
He  had  recently  been  restored  to  those  degrees  which  had 
been  taken  from  him  by  the  Cambridge  Senate  in  1718, 
lie  seizes  this  opportunity  of  intimating  to  the  world  that 
he  is  once  more  in  full  exercise  of  his  functions  as  Regius 
Professor  of  Divinity. 

It  was  in  his  seventy-seventh  year  (1739)  tb.at  Bentley 
fulfilled  a  project  of  his  youth  by  publishing  an  edition 
of  Manilius.  At  the  age  of  twenty-nine  (1G91)  he  had 
been  actively  collecting  materials,  and  had  even  made 
some  progress  with  the  text.  In  1727  we  find  that  this 
work,  so  long  laid  aside,  stood  first  on  the  list  of  prom- 


i.v.)  OTIIF.U  CLASSICAL  STUDIES— MAMLIUS.  139 

isos  to  DC  rcdccinccl :  and  in  ITOG  it  was  ready  for  press. 
A  proposal  for  piiblisliini;  it  was  made  to  Bcntley  by  a 
London  "  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of  Learning," 
wiiicli  aimed  at  j)rotecting  authors  from  booksellers, 
licntley  declined.  The  Manilius  was  printed  in  1739  by 
Henry  Woodfall.  It  is  n  beautiful  quarto;  the  frontis- 
piece is  Vertue's  engraving  of  Thornhill's  portrait  of  Bcnt- 
ley, aeto/.  48  (1710);  a  good  engraving,  though  a  con- 
ventional benignity  tames  and  spoils  that  peculiar  expres- 
sion which  is  so  striking  in  the  picture  at  Trinity  College. 
Manilius  is  the  author  of  an  epic  poem  in  five  books, 
called  Astronomica :  but  popular  astronomy  is  subordi- 
nate, in  his  treatment,  to  astrology.  Strangely  enough, 
the  poet's  age  was  so  open  a  question  with  the  scholars 
of  the  seventeenth  century  that  Gcviirts  actually  identi- 
fied him  with  Thcodorus  Mallius,  consul  in  399  a. d.,  whom 
Claudian  panegyrises.  The  preface  to  Bcntley's  edition, 
written  by  his  nephew  Richard,  rightly  assigns  Manilius 
to  the  age  of  Augustus,  though  without  giving  the  inter- 
nal proofs.  These  are  plain.  Book  i.  was  finished  after 
the  defeat  of  Varus  (a.d.  9),  and  Book  iv.  before  the 
death  of  Augustus  (a.d.  14).  F.  Jacob,  in  his  edition  of 
the  poet  (rcc.  Berlin  1846),  understands  a  verse  in  Book 
V.  (512)  as  referring  to  the  restoration  by  Tiberius  of 
Pompey's  Theatre,  after  it  had  been  burnt  down  in  22 
A.D.  But,  according  to  the  marble  of  Ancyra,  Augustus 
also  had  repaired  that  theatre  at  a  great  cost,  and  took 
credit  for  allowing  the  name  of  Pompey  to  remain  in  the 
dedicatory  inscription,  instead  of  replacing  it  by  his  own. 
Clearly  it  is  to  this  that  the  words  of  Manilius  allude — 
"Jlinc  Pompeia  manent  veteris  monbnenta  triumphV — im- 
plying a  compliment  not  only  to  the  munificence,  but  to 
the  magnnnimitv,  of  Augustus.     There  is  no  reason,  then, 


140  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

for  doubting  that  the  -whole  poem  was  composed,  or  took 
its  present  shape,  between  a.d.  9  and  a.d.  14.  The  poet 
gives  no  clue  to  his  own  origin,  but  his  style  has  a  strong- 
ly Greek  tinge. 

Scaliger  pronounced  him  "  equal  in  sweetness  to  Ovid, 
and  superior  in  majesty ;"  a  verdict  which  Bentley  cites 
"with  approval.  To  most  readers  it  will  be  scarcely  intel- 
ligible. Where  Manilius  deals  with  the  technical  parts 
of  astronomy,  he  displays,  indeed,  excellent  ingenuity; 
but,  in  the  frequent  passages  where  he  imitates  Lucretius, 
the  contrast  between  a  poet  and  a  rhetorician  is  jnade 
only  more  glaring  by  an  archaic  diction.  The  episode  of 
Andromeda  and  Perseus,  in  his  fifth  book,  and  a  passage 
on  human  reason  in  the  second,  were  once  greatly  admired. 
To  show  him  at  his  best,  however,  I  should  rather  take 
one  of  those  places  where  he  expresses  more  simply  a  feel- 
ing of  wonder  and  awe  common  to  every  age.  "  Where- 
fore see  we  the  stars  arise  in  their  seasons,  and  move,  as 
at  a  word  spoken,  on  the  paths  appointed  for  them  ?  Of 
whom  there  is  none  that  hastens,  neither  is  there  any  that 
tarries  behind.  Why  are  the  summer  nights  beautiful 
with  these  that  change  not,  and  the  nights  of  winter  from 
of  old  ?  These  things  are  not  the  work  of  chance,  but  the 
order  of  a  God  most  high." 

Bentley's  treatment  of  the  text  sometimes  exhibits  all 
his  brilliancy  :  thus  in  Book  v.  YS*?  the  received  text  had — 

"  Sic  etiam  magno  quaedam  respondere  mundo 
Haec  Natura  fucit,  quae  caeli  condidit  orbem." 

This  respondere  had  even  been  quoted  to  show  that  the 
poem  was  post-classical.  The  MSS.  have  not  Haec,  but 
QUAM ;  not  caeli,  but  caelo  ;  and  one  good  MS.  has  mun- 
do EST.     Bentley  restores : 


IS.]  OTHER  CLASSICAL  STUDIES.— MANILIUS.  141 

"Sic  ctiam  in  magno  quacdani  kkspiulicv  rntmdo  est, 
Quain  Natura  facit,  quae  caclo  toiiili>lit  ikiikm." 

"So  also  in  the  great  firmament  tlitre  is  a  coinmonwcaltli, 
wrouglit  by  Nature,  who  hath  ordered  a  city  in  tiio  heav- 
ens.'' Responderc  arose  from  a  contraction  rcsp.  And 
urbem  is  made  certain  by  the  next  verses,  which  ehiborate 
tlic  comparison  of  the  starry  liicrarchy  to  the  various 
ranks  of  civic  life.  But  this,  Bcntley's  last  published 
work,  shows  a  tendency  from  which  his  earlier  criticism 
was  comparatively  free.  Not  content  with  amending,  he 
rejects  very  many  verses  as  spurious.  The  total  number 
is  no  less  than  170  out  of  4220  lines  which  the  poem  con- 
tains. In  the  vast  majority  of  cases,  the  ground  of  rejec- 
tion is  wholly  and  obviously  inadequate.  As  an  example 
of  his  rashness  here,  we  may  take  one  passage — which,  I 
venture  to  think,  he  has  not  understood.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  Book  IV.  Manilius  is  reciting  the  glories  of  Rome: 

"Quid  reforam  Caiina.s  admotaquc  moenibus  arraa? 
Varronciiique  fuga  magnum  (quod  vivcre  possit 
Postquc  tuos,  Thrasimcne,  lacus)  Fabiumque  morando  ? 
^ccepissc  iugum  vicias  Cartliaginis  arces  ?" 

"Why  should  I  tell  of  Canna),  and  of  (Carthaginian)  arms  carried 
to  the  walls  of  Rome?  Why  tell  of  Varro,  great  in  his  flight,  .  .  . 
and  Fabius,  in  his  delay  ?  Or  how  the  conquered  towers  of  Car 
thagc  received  our  yoke  ?" 

Varro's  "  llight"  is  his  escape  from  the  field  of  Canna?, 
after  which  he  saved  the  remnant  of  the  Roman  army. 
The  words,  "  q^iocl  vivere  possit  Postque  tuos,  Thrasimene, 
laciis,^^  arc  untranslatable.  Bentlcy  seems  to  have  under- 
stood :  "  in  that  he  can  live,  and  that,  too,  after  the  battle 
at  Lake  Thrasimcne ;"  but,  to  say  no  more,  que  forbids 
this.     And  then  he  rejects  the  whole  line,  ^^  Accept sse — 


142  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

r— 

I  arcesy  Why  ?  Because  "  yokes "  are  put  on  peoples, 
not  on  "  towers !"     Now  the  oldest  manuscript  (Gembla- 

1  censis)  has  not  vivere,  but  vincere  :  the  MSS.  have  not 
quod  (a  conjecture),  but  quam.  They  have  also  moran- 
TEM  (not  morando),  victae  (not  victas).     I  should  read : 

"  Quid  referam  Cannas  admotaque  moeuibus  anna  ? 
Varronemque  fuga  magnum,  Fabiumque  morautem  ? 
Postque  tuos,  Thrasimcne,  lacus  quom  tincere  posset, 
Accepisse  iuguni  victae  Carthagiuis  arces  ?" 

"and  that — though  after  the  fight  by  thy  waters,  Thrasimene,  she 
could  hope  to  conquer — the  towers  of  conquered  Carthage  received 
our  yoke." 

The  words  "quom  vincere  posset"  allude  to  the  immi- 
nent peril  of  Rome  after  Hannibal's  great  victory  at  Lake 
Tlirasimene,  when  the  fall  of  the  city  seemed  inevitable  if 
the  conqueror  should  march  upon  it.     (Cp.  Liv.  xxii.  7  f.) 

It  remains  to  speak  of  another  labour  which  Bentley 
was  not  destined  to  complete,  but  which,  even  in  its  com- 
paratively slight  relics,  offers  points  of  great  interest — his 
Homer. 

The  first  trace  of  Homeric  criticism  by  Bentley  occurs 
in  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  his  friend  Davies,  of  Queens' 
College,  just  after  Joshua  Barnes  had  published  his  edi- 
tion of  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey  (l*?!!).  Barnes,  who  was 
unreasonably  offended  with  Bentley,  refers  in  his  preface 
to  a  certain  "  hostile  person,"  a  very  Zoilus.  "  If  he  mean 
me,"  says  Bentley,  "  I  have  but  dipped  yet  into  his  notes, 
and  yet  I  find  everywhere  just  occasion  of  censure." 
Bentley  then  shows  that  Barnes  had  made  an  arbitrary 
change  in  a  line  of  the  Iliad  {ahrup  for  aXXa  in  xiv.  101), 
through  not  seeing  that  a  reading  which  had  stood  in  all 
former  editions,  and  which  had  puzzled  the  Greek  com- 


IX.]  UTIIER  CLASSICAL  STIIUKS— IKi.MKll.  143 

nifiiUitor  Eiistatliiiis,  was  a  mere  blunder  {inro:rruiiov(Tiv 
for  HTroiraTr-cii'iuvaii').  In  1713  Lcntley  publisheJ  his 
"  llcmarks "  on  the  "  Discourse  of  Frcc-thiuking "  by 
Anthony  Collins.  Collins  had  spoken  of  the  Iliad  as  "  tho 
epitome  of  all  arts  and  sciences,"  adding  that  Jlomcr  "de- 
signed his  poem  for  eternity,  to  please  and  instruct  man- 
kind." "  Take  my  word  for  it,"  says  Bcntley,  "  poor 
llomer,  in  those  circumstances  and  early  times,  liad  never 
such  aspiring  thoughts.  He  wrote  a  sequel  of  songs  and 
rhapsodies,  to  be  sung  by  himself  for  small  earnings  and 
good  cheer,  at  festivals  and  other  days  of  merriment ;  the 
Ilias  he  made  for  tlie  men,  and  the  Odysseis  for  the  other 
sex.  These  loose  songs  were  not  collected  together  in  tlie 
form  of  an  epic  poem  till  Pisistratus's  time,  above  [2nd 
edition:  1st,  about]  500  years  after."  There  is  some  am- 
biguity in  the  phrase,  "  a  sequel  of  songs  and  rhapsodies." 
It  seems  improbable  that  Bentley  meant,  "a  connected 
series." 

AVhen  Bentley  wrote  this,  the  origin  of  the  Homeric 
poems  had  not  yet  become  a  subject  of  modern  contro- 
versy. It  would  be  unfair  to  press  his  casual  utterance  as 
if  it  were  a  carefully  defined  statement.  Yet  it  is  inter- 
esting to  note  the  general  outlines  of  the  belief  which  sat- 
isfied a  mind  so  bold  and  so  acute.  lie  supposes,  then, 
that  a  poet  named  Homer  lived  about  1050  n.c.  This 
poet  "wrote"  (by  which,  perhaps,  he  meant  no  more  than 
"composed")  both  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey.  But 
neither  of  them  was  given  to  the  world  by  Homer  as  a 
single  epic.  Each  consisted  of  many  short  lays,  which 
Homer  recited  separately.  These  lays  circulated  merely 
as  detached  pieces,  until  they  were  collected  about  550 
B.C.  into  the  two  epics  which  we  possess. 

Seventy -two  years  later  F.  A.  "Wolf  published  his  Prol- 


144  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

egomena.  The  early  epic  poetry  of  Greece,  Wolf  argues, 
was  transmitted  by  oral  recitation,  not  by  writing.  But 
our  Iliad  and  Odyssey  could  not  have  been  composed 
without  writing.  We  must  conclude,  then,  that  the  Ho- 
meric poems  were  originally,  in  Bcntley's  phrase,  "  a  se- 
quel of  songs  and  rhapsodies."  These  "  loose  songs  "  were 
first  written  down  and  arranged  by  the  care  of  Peisistra- 
tus.  Thus  Bentley's  sentence  contains  the  germ  of  the 
view  which  Wolf  developed.  Yet  it  would  be  an  error 
to  conceive  Bentley  here  as  an  original  sceptic,  who  threw 
out  the  first  pregnant  hint  of  a  new  theory.  Bentley's  re- 
lation to  the  modern  Homeric  question  is  of  a  different 
kind.  The  view  which  he  expresses  was  directly  derived 
by  him  from  notices  in  ancient  writers ;  as  when  Pausa- 
nias  says  that  the  Homeric  poems,  before  their  collection 
by  Peisistratus,  had  been  "  scattered,  and  preserved  only  by 
memory,  soaie  here,  some  there."  Cicero,  Plutarch,  Dioge- 
nes Lacrtius,  the  Platonic  JIip2)archus,  Heracleides  Ponti- 
cus,  were  other  witnesses  to  whom  Bentley  could  appeal. 

He  brought  forward  and  approved  that  old  tradition  at 
a  time  when  the  original  unity  of  each  epic  was  the  re- 
ceived belief.  It  was  not  till  the  latter  part  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  that  the  passion  for  returning  from  "  art " 
to  "  nature  "  prepared  a  welcome  for  the  doctrine  that  the 
Iliad  and  the  Odyssey  are  parcels  of  primitive  folk-songs. 
But  then  we  note  the  off-hand  way  in  which  Bentley's 
statement  assumes  points  which  have  since  vexed  Ho- 
meric research.  He  assumes  that  the  Jliad  and  Odyssey 
are  made  up  of  parts  which  were  originalhj  intended  for 
detached  recitations :  an  inference  to  which  the  structure 
of  the  poems  is  strongly  adverse.  He  accepts  without  re- 
serve the  tradition  regarding  Peisistratus.  By  the  ancient 
saying  that  the  Iliad  was  written  for  men  and  the  Odys- 


ix.J  OTHER  CLASSICAL  STUDIES.— HOMER.  M5 

scy  f(^r  women,  I>entlcv  probiilily  undorslood  no  more 
tliaii  tliat  the  Iliad  deals  with  war,  and  the  <)dyssoy  with 
tlie  trials  of  a  true  wife.  Tlicre  is,  indeed,  a  further  sense 
in  which  we  might  say  that  tlic  Iliad,  with  its  lii.storical 
spirit,  was  masculine,  and  the  Odyssey,  with  its  fairy-land 
wonders  and  its  tender  patlios,  more  akin  to  das  Ewifjwei- 
hlkhe ;  but  we  cannot  read  that  meaning  into  Bcntlcy's 
words.  lie  seems  to  have  found  no  such  difference  be- 
tween the  characters  of  the  two  epics  as  constrained  him 
to  become  a  "  separator."  He  had  not  felt,  what  is  now 
so  generally  admitted,  that  the  Odyssey  bears  the  marks 
of  a  later  time  than  the  Iliad.  Briefly,  then,  we  cannot 
properly  regard  Bentley  as  a  forerunner  of  the  Homeric 
controversy  on  its  literary  or  historical  side,  pre-eminently 
as  his  critical  gifts  would  have  fitted  him  to  take  up  the 
question.  IIo  knew  the  ancient  sources  on  which  Wolf 
afterwards  worked,  but  he  had  not  given  his  mind  to  sift- 
ing them.  Bcntley's  connexion  with  Ilomcric  criticism 
is  wholly  on  the  side  of  the  text,  and  chiefly  in  regard  to 
metre. 

In  1726  Bentley  was  meditating  an  edition  of  Homer, 
but  intended  first  to  finish  his  labours  on  the  New  Testa- 
ment. In  1732  he  definitely  committed  himself  to  the 
Homeric  task.  At  that  time  the  House  of  Lords  had  be- 
fore it  the  question  whether  the  Bishop  of  Ely  could  try 
Bentley.  As  the  Horace  had  been  dedicated  to  Ilarley,  so 
the  Homer  was  to  be  dedicated  to  Lord  Carteret,  a  peer 
who  was  favourable  to  the  Master  of  Trinity's  cause,  and 
who  encouraged  the  design  by  granting  or  procuring  the 
loan  of  manuscripts.  In  1734  we  find  Bentley  at  work 
on  Homer.  But,  though  lie  made  some  progress,  nothing 
was  published.  Trinity  College  possesses  the  only  relics 
of  his  Homeric  work. 


146  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

First,  there  is  a  copy  of  II.  Estienne's  folio  Poetae 
Graeci.  In  this  Bentley  had  read  throngli  the  Iliad,  Odys- 
sey, and  Homeric  Hymns,  writing  very  brief  notes  in  the 
margin,  which  are  either  his  own  corrections,  or  readings 
from  manuscripts  or  grammarians.  In  the  Hymns  the 
notes  become  rarer ;  and  it  is  evident  that  all  were  written 
rapidly.  This  is  the  book  which  Trinity  College  sent  in 
1790  to  Gottingen,  for  the  use  of  Heyne,  who  warmly  ac- 
knowledges the  benefit  in  the  preface  to  his  edition  of  the 
Iliad.  Secondly,  a  small  quarto  manuscript  book  contains 
somewhat  fuller  notes  by  Bentley  on  the  first  six  books 
of  the  Iliad.  These  notes  occupy  43  pages  of  the  book, 
ceasing  abruptly  at  verse  54  of  Iliad  vir.  Lastly,  there  is 
the  manuscript  draft  of  Bentley's  notes  on  the  digamma, 
the  substance  of  which  has  been  published  by  J.  W.  Don- 
aldson in  his  New  Cvatylus. 

The  distinctive  feature  of  Bentley's  Homeric  work  is 
the  restoration  of  the  digamma.  Bentley's  discovery  was 
too  much  in  advance  of  his  age  to  be  generally  received 
otherwise  than  with  ridicule  or  disbelief.  Even  F.  A.  Wolf, 
who  yielded  to  few  in  his  admiration  of  the  English  critic, 
could  speak  of  the  digamma  as  merely  an  illusion  which, 
in  old  age,  mocked  the  genius  of  Bentley  {senile  ludihrium 
ingenii  Bentleiani).  At  the  present  day,  when  the  philo- 
logical fact  has  so  long  been  seen  in  a  clearer  light,  it  is 
easy  to  underrate  the  originality  and  the  insight  which 
the  first  perception  of  it  showed. 

In  reading  Homer,  Bentley  had  been  struck  by  such 
things  as  these.  The  words,  "  and  Atreides  the  kinc/,^''  are 
in  Homer,  Atreides  te  anax.  Now  the  e  in  te  would  nat- 
urally be  cut  off  before  the  first  a  in  anax,  making  (anax. 
But  the  poet  cannot  have  meant  to  cut  it  off,  since  that 
would  spoil  the  metre.     Why,  then,  was  he  able  to  avoid 


IX.]  OTIIKU  (LASSK'AI-  STUDIES. -IIOMKIl.  1  i7 

ciittiiii,'  it  oil?  Because,  said  Bent  ley,  in  Iloinci-'s  lime 
the  word  ana.t  di<l  not  begin  witli  a  vowel :  it  was  vanax. 
Many  old  writers  mention  a  letter  which  had  disappeared 
from  the  ordinary  Greek  alphabet.  Its  sound  had  been 
like  the  Latin  v — that  is,  probably,  like  our  v.'.  Its  form 
wns  like  F :  which,  to  Greek  eyes,  sngi^csted  their  letter 
(jamma,  r,  with  another  gamma  on  its  shoulders:  and  so 
they  called  this  f  tlic  "double  gamma,"  the  lUgamma. 
Several  words  are  specified  by  the  old  grammarians  as 
having  once  begun  with  this  digamma.  Bentlcy  tried  the 
experiment  of  rei)lacing  it  before  such  words  where  they 
occurred  in  Ilomcr.  Very  often,  he  found,  this  explain- 
ed a  gap  (or  "  hiatus"),  like  that  in  Atreidcs  te  anax.  lie 
came  to  the  conclusion  that,  when  the  Homeric  poems 
were  composed,  this  letter  was  still  used,  and  that  it  should 
always  be  prefixed,  in  Homer,  to  those  words  which  once 
had  it. 

The  first  hint  of  this  idea  occurs  in  Bcntlcy's  copy  (now 
at  Trinity  College)  of  the  "Discourse  of  Free-thinking" 
by  Anthony  Collins,  which  Bentlcy  was  reading  and  an- 
notating in  1713.  On  a  blank  leaf  at  the  end  he  has 
written : 

"  Ilonier's  ^iyafi^ia  Acolicutn  to  be  adJeil.  oIvoq,  FoIvoq,  viim  :  a 
Demonstration  of  this,  because  PoIvoq  has  always  preceding  it  a 
vowel :  so  oiVoTrora^oii'." 

Bentlcy's  view  was  noticed  by  his  friend  Dr.  Samuel 
Clarke,  in  the  second  volume  of  his  Iliad,  published  post- 
humously in  11 '32.  In  tlie  same  year  came  forth  Bent- 
ley's  edition  of  Paradiae  Lost,  in  which  he  had  occa- 
sion to  quote  Ilomer.  There  the  digamma  makes  its 
modern  debut  in  all  the  majesty  of  a  capital  F — for  which 
printers  now  use  the  sign  f.     It  was  the  odd  look  of  such 


148  BENTLEY.  [hap. 

a  word  as  Firog  that  inspired  Pope  witli  the  lines  in  the 
D unclad.     Bontlcy  speaks  : 

"  Roman  and  Greek  grammarians !  know  your  better, 
Author  of  something  yet  more  great  than  letter; 
While  tow'ring  o'er  your  alphabet,  like  Saul, 
Stands  our  digamma,  and  o'ertops  them  all." 

Bentley  Lad  thrown  a  true  and  brilliant  light  on  the 
text  of  Homer.  But,  as  was  natural  then,  he  pushed  his 
conclusion  too  far.  The  Greek  Foinos  is  the  same  as 
vinum  and  toiiie.  Iloraer,  Bentley  thought,  could  no  ' 
more  have  said  oinos,  instead  of  vohios,  than  Romans 
could  say  inum,  or  Englishmen  ine.  Accordingly,  he  set 
to  work  to  restore  this  letter  all  through  the  Homeric 
poems.  Often  it  mended  the  metre,  but  not  seldom  it 
marred  it;  and  then  Bentley  was  for  changing  the  text. 
A  single  instance  will  give  some  idea  of  his  task.  In  Iliad 
I.  202  we  have  the  words  huhrin  ule  {iftoiv  'idrj),  (that  thou 
mayest)  "  see  the  insolence."  This  woi'd  ide  was  originally 
vide:  its  stem  vid  is  that  of  the  Latin  video  and  our  luit. 
Homer,  said  Bentley,  could  have  written  nothing  but  vide. 
And  so,  to  make  the  metre  right,  he  reads  a  different  word 
(cjojjc).  Now  let  us  see  what  this  involves.  This  stem 
vid  is  the  parent  of  several  words,  very  frequent  in  Ho- 
mer, for  seeing,  seeming,  knowing,  form,  etc.  On  Bentley 's 
view,  every  one  of  these  must  always,  in  Homer,  begin 
with  /.  The  number  of  changes  required  can  easily  be 
estimated  by  any  one  vvho  will  consult  Prendergast's  Con- 
cordance to  the  Iliad,  Dunbar's  to  the  Odyssey  and  Ho- 
meric Hymns.  I  do  not  guarantee  the  absolute  precision 
of  the  following  numbers,  but  they  are  at  least  approxi- 
mately correct.  I  find  that  about  832  derivatives  of  the 
stem  vid  occur  in  the  Iliad,  Odyssey,  and  Hymns.     By  f 


K.] 


OTHER  CLASSICAL  STUDIES.— IK )Mi:U. 


119 


I  denote  those  cases  in  wliicli  the  inctre  requires  liic  di- 
gamnia :  by  N,  those  in  whicli  tlic  metre  excludes  it :  by 
Q,  tliosc  cases  whicli  prove  notliing : 


Total. 

;: 

N 

Q 

Iliad 

Odyssey.  .  . 
Hymns  .  .  . 

3.j7 
90 

205 

220 

38 

81 
V6 
3-t 

71 

80 
27 

832 

4G3 

191 

178 

So,  for  this  one  root  vid,  Bentley  would  have  been  com- 
pelled to  amend  the  text  of  Uomcr  in  about  191  places. 
The  number  of  dij^ammated  roots  in  Homer  is  between 
30  and  40 ;  no  other  is  so  prolific  as  vid;  but  a  consistent 
restoration  of  the  digamma  would  require  chani^e  in  at 
least  several  hundreds  of  places;  and  often  under  condi- 
tions which  require  that  the  changes,  if  any,  should  be 
extremely  bold.  Bentley's  error  consisted  in  regarding 
the  digamma  as  a  constant  element,  like  any  other  letter 
in  the  radical  parts  of  the  words  to  which  it  had  once 
been  prefixed.  It  was  not  this,  but  rather  the  ghost  of 
a  vanished  letter,  which,  in  Homeric  metre,  fitfully  haunts 
its  ancient  scats.  Nor  is  it  the  only  such  ghost.  "When 
Centloy  found  that,  in  Homer,  the  word  wc,  "  as,"  can  be 
treated  as  if  it  began  with  a  consonant,  he  wrote  /wc:  but 
the  lost  initial  was  not  the  spirant  \':  it  was  y  :  for  wc  is 
merely  the  ablative  of  u-c,  the  Sanskrit  yat. 

Apart  from  the  restoration  of  the  digarima,  the  relics 
of  Bentley's  work  on  Homer  present  other  attempts  at 
emendation.  These  are  always  acute  and  ingenious;  but 
the  instances  are  rare  indeed  in  which  thev  would  now 


150  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

commend  themselves  to  students.  I  give  a  few  specimens 
below,  in  order  that  scholars  may  judge  of  their  general 
character.*  The  boldness  with  which  Bentley  was  dis- 
posed to  correct  Homer  may  be  illustrated  by  a  single  ex- 
ample. Priam,  the  aged  king  of  Troy,  is  standing  beside 
Helen  on  the  walls,  and  looking  forth  on  the  plain  where 
warriors  arc  moving.  He  sees  Odysseus  passing  along 
the  ranks  of  his  followers,  and  asks  Helen  who  that  is. 
"  His  arms  lie  on  the   earth  that  feedeth  many :  but  he 

*  I.  From  Beiiilcy's  MS.  notes  in  the  margin  of  the  Homer. 

Odjsscy  I.  23  ('AX\'  6  jxiv  AlQioTvaQ  /leTeKiaOt  ti]\6Q'  iovrac,  \ 
AiBioTraQ,  tol  VixOd  SaSaiaTca,  taxaroi  dvSpwv).  "  legcndum  AlOioneg : 
si  vera  lectio  II.  Z.  396."  {Qvydrrjp  fieyaXrjTopog  'EETiwvos,  \  'Hetiwv, 
oc  ivauv,  K.r.X.)  [Lucian  speaks  of  "  Attic  solecisms  " — deliberate 
imitations,  by  late  writers,  of  the  irregular  grammar  found  in  At- 
tic writers:  surely  this  is  a  gratuitous  "Homeric  solecism."]  29. 
{/.ivtjaaTo  yap  kotu  9v[zuv  ctfivfioj^og  AiyiaOoio.)  Bentley  conjectures 
icaTti  vovi'  dvorjfioi'oc.  51.  Old  S'  tv  cdj/xaai  vaiei  "Eust.  not.  iv 
dunara  vain  pro  vulg.  Suifiacn,  sed  lego  9ed  o'  iv  Trorvia  vaiei.  ivvaiet 
absolute,  ut  ivvaiovm  II.  1. 154,  296.  Sic  Od.  E.  215  cam  compellens 
HoTva  Bed.  kou  Su>i.iaTa  tvaitv  scd  aTriog.  Ibidem."  [i.  e.,  Bentley 
objects  to  the  word  vwjiaTa  because  Calypso  lived  in  a  cave.  But 
iv  SwjiaTa  vaiei  is  unquestionably  right.] 

II.  From  his  MS.  book  of  notes  on  Iliad  i.-vii.  54. 

Iliad  III.  46  ?}  toiucEe  iwv.  Araabant,  credo.  Hiatus ;  non  solum 
tolerabant.  Dedit  poeta  »/  toiovtoq  iuv.  212.  {fivOovg  koi  fijjSta 
■jrdffiv  v^aivov.)  Casaubonus  ad  Theocritum  c.  ix.  corrigit  t(paivov. 
Kecte.  t^aivov  (ivQovq,  in  concione  loquebantur.  Sic  II.  a.  295, 
"Nrjirif,  ixijKETi  ravra  voi]iiaTa  (palv  Ivl  Crjfiqj.  357.  (cia  fiiv  darriSog 
ijXOe  ^aeivi'ig  iiliptfiov  tyxog.)  Saepe  redit  hie  versiculus  qui  si  vera 
ab  Homero  est,  Licentia  nescio  qua  pronuntiabitur  Ala  /uv,  ut  ""Apeg, 
"Apeg.  Non  enim  tribrachys  pro  Dactylo  liic  ponitur  ad  exprimendara 
Hastae  celeritatem,  non  magis  quam  Molossus  pes  trium  longarum  ad 
tarditatem  exprimendam.  Quid  si  legat  quis,  AiaTrpo  n'ev,  pede  Pro- 
celeusmatico,  ut  "capitibu'  nutantes  pinus,"  "Parictibus  textum 
caccis  iter." 


IX.]  OTIIKU  CLASSICAL  STUDIES.  151 

liiinself,  like  a  leader  of  the  lluclc  {ktIXoc  tir),  moves  along 
the  ranks  of  men  ;  yea,  I  liken  him  to  a  youn^-  ram  with 
thiek  fleece,  that  passcth  thronnli  a  great  Hock  of  white 
sheep."  Bentley,  thinking  that  wc  must  be  fioc,  had  to 
get  rid  of  kWXoc  somehow.  "  Never  yet,"  says  Dentley, 
"  have  I  seen  a  ram  ordering  the  ranks  of  men.  And 
what  tautology  !  lie  moves  along,  like  a  ram  :  and  I  com- 
pare him  to  a  ram  !"  And  so  he  changes  the  ram  into  a 
word  meaning  "unarmed"  (writing  avrap  xpiXuc  iuji'  in- 
stead of  avTuc  ^e  ktiXoc  <2g),  because  the  arms  of  Odysseus 
are  said  to  be  lying  on  the  ground. 

Bentley  had  done  tirst-rate  work  on  some  authors  who 
would  have  rewarded  him  better  than  Homer — better  than 
Ilorace  or  Manilius.  It  was  his  habit  to  enter  collations 
of  manuscripts,  or  his  own  conjectures,  in  the  margins  of 
his  classical  books.  Some  of  these  books  arc  at  Cam- 
bridge. Many  more  are  in  the  British  Museum.  The 
Gentleman'' s  Magazine  for  1807  relates  how  Kidd  found 
CO  volumes,  formerly  Bentley's,  at  the  London  bookseller 
Lackington's,  to  whom  they  had  been  sold  by  Cumber- 
land, and  from  whom  they  were  at  once  bought  for  the 
Museum  by  the  Trustees.  The  complete  list  of  the  Bent- 
ley books  in  the  British  Museum  comprises  (omitting 
duplicates)  TO  works.  All,  or  nearly  all,  the  manuscript 
notes  which  enrich  these  volumes  have  now  been  printed 
somewhere.  The  notes  on  Lucan,  whom  Bentley  had  in- 
tended to  edit,  were  published  by  Cumberland  in  ITGO. 
Among  the  most  ingenious  emendations  arc  those  on  Ni- 
cander,  the  Greek  physician  of  Colophon  {circ.  150  B.C.), 
whose  epic  on  venomous  bites  {Tlicriaca)  Bentley  had  an- 
notated at  the  request  of  Dr.  Mead.  But  the  province  of 
Greek  and  Roman  literature  in  which  these  remains  most 
strikingly  illustrate  Bentley's  power  is,  on  the  whole,  that 
of  the  comic  drama. 


152  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

He  liad  sent  Kiister  his  remarks  on  two  plays  of  Aris- 
tophanes— the  Platus  and  Clouds.  All  the  eleven  com- 
edies have  his  marginal  notes  in  his  copy  of  Frohen's 
edition,  now  in  the  British  Museum.  These  notes  were 
first  published  by  G.  Burgcs  in  the  Classical  Journal,  xi.- 
xiv.  For  exact  scholarship,  knowledge,  and  brilliant  felic- 
ity, they  are  wonderfully  in  advance  of  anything  which  had 
then  been  done  for  the  poet.  Person  is  said  to  have  felt 
the  joy  of  a  truly  great  scholar  on  finding  that  his  own 
emendations  of  Aristophanes  had  been  anticipated,  in  some 
seventy  instances,  by  the  predecessor  whom  he  so  highly 
revered.  Bentley's  emendations  of  Plautus  are  also  very 
remarkable.  They  have  been  published,  for  the  first  time, 
by  Mr.  E.  A.  Sonnenschein,  in  his  edition  of  the  Captivi 
(1880),  from  the  Plautus  in  the  British  Museum  which 
Bentley  used ;  it  is  the  second  edition  of  Parens  (Frank- 
furt, 1623).  All  our  twenty  comedies  have  been  touched 
more  or  less — the  number  of  Bentley's  conjectures  in  each 
ranging  from  perhaps  20  to  150  or  more. 

As  in  Aristophanes,  so  in  Plautus,  Bentley  sometimes 
anticipated  the  best  thoughts  of  later  critics.  Such  coin- 
cidences show  how  much  he  v/as  in  advance  of  his  age. 
Those  conjectures  of  Bentley's  which  were  afterwards 
made  independently  by  such  men  as  Porson  or  Ritschl 
were  in  most  cases  certain;  in  Bentley's  day,  however, 
they  were  as  yet  beyond  the  reach  of  every  one  else.  Nor 
must  we  overlook  his  work  on  Lucretius.  That  library  of 
Isaac  Voss  which  Bentley  had  vainly  sought  to  secure  for 
Oxford  carried  with  it  to  Leyden  the  two  most  important 
MSS.  of  Lucretius — one  of  the  9th  century  (Munro's  A), 
another  of  the  10th  (B).  Bentley  had  to  work  without 
these.  His  notes — first  completely  published  in  the  Glas- 
gow edition  of  Wakefield  (1813)  —  fill  only  22  octavo 


K.]  OTHER  CLASSICAL  STUDIES.  153 

pages  in  the  Oxford  edition  of  1818.  But  their  quality 
has  been  recognised  by  the  highest  authority.  Munro 
thinks  that  Bentley,  if  he  had  had  the  Leyden  MSS., 
"might  have  anticipated  what  Lachniann  did  by  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half."  Another  labour  also,  in  another  field, 
descended  from  Bentley  to  Lachraann :  of  that  wc  must 
now  speak. 


CHAPTEIl  X. 

THE    PROPOSED    EDITION    OF    THE    NEW    TESTAMENT. 

Dr.  John  Mill  publislied  in  lV07  bis  edition  of  tbe  Greek 
Testament,  giving  in  foot-notes  the  various  readings  which 
he  Lad  collected  by  the  labour  of  thirty  years.  To  under- 
stand the  impression  which  this  work  produced,  it  is  nec- 
cssaiy  to  recall  the  nature  of  its  predecessors.  The  Greek 
text  of  the  New  Testament,  as  tlicn  generally  read,  was 
ultimately  based  on  two  sixteenth  century  editions ;  that 
of  Erasmus  (Basel,  1516),  which  had  been  marked  by 
much  carelessness;  and  that  due  chiefly  to  Stunica,  in  the 
"Complutensian  "  Polyglott  (so  called  from  Complutum^ 
or  Alcala  de  Henares)  of  Cardinal  Ximenes,  printed  in 
1514,  and  probably  published  in  1522.  The  folio  edition 
printed  by  Robert  Estienne  at  Paris  in  1550  was  founded 
on  the  text  of  Erasmus.  The  Elzevir  editions,  of  v.'hich 
the  first  appeared  in  1624,  gave  the  text  of  Estienne  as 
imperfectly  revised  by  the  reformer  Beza.  The  second 
Elzevir  edition  (1633)  declared  this  to  be  "the  text  now 
received  by  all."  Hence  it  came  to  be  known  as  the 
"  Pteceived  Text." 

The  existence  of  various  readings,  though  a  well-known, 
was  hardly  a  prominent  fact.  Some  had  been  given  in 
the  margin  of  the  folio  Estienne ;  Beza  had  referred  to 
others ;  more  had  been  noticed  by  Walton  in  the  Greek 


cii.  X.]    PROroSKI)  KDITION  or  TUP]  NEW  TESTAMENT.    155 

Testament  cf  his  Polyi,'lott  (1G57),  and  by  Dislioi)  F.-H  in 
his  small  edition  (107.3).  The  sources  of  textual  evidence 
generally  had  been  described  and  discussed  with  intelli- 
gence and  candour  by  the  French  scholar  Simon  (1G89- 
95).  But  Mill's  edition  was  the  first  which  impressed  the 
public  mind  by  marshalling  a  great  array  of  variants, 
roughly  estimated  at  thirty  thousand.  In  liis  learned 
Prolegomena  Mill  often  expressed  opinions  and  preferences, 
but  without  supplying  any  general  clue  to  the  labyrinth 
exhibited  in  his  critical  notes. 

The  alarm  felt  in  some  quarters  is  strikingly  shown  by 
Whitby's  censure  of  Mill's  edition  (1710),  in  which  he 
goes  so  far  as  to  affirm  that  the  "Received  Text"  can  be 
defended  in  all  j^laccs  where  the  sense  is  affected  {in  Us 
omnibus  locis  lectionem  textus  defendi  posse),  and  that 
even  in  matters  "  of  lesser  moment "  it  is  "  most  rarely  " 
invalidated.  On  the  other  hand,  anti-Christian  writers  did 
not  fail  to  make  capital  of  a  circumstance  which  they  rep- 
resented as  impugning  the  tradition.  Thus  Anthony  Col- 
lins, in  his  "Discourse  of  Free-thinking,"  specially  dwelt 
on  Mill's  30,000  variants.  In  his  published  reply  to  Collins 
(1713),  Bcntley  pointed  out  that  such  variants  arc  perfect- 
ly compatible  with  the  absence  of  any  essential  corruption, 
while  he  insisted  on  the  value  of  critical  studies  in  their 
application  to  the  Scriptures.  Dr.  Ilare,  in  publicly  thank- 
ing Bentley  for  this  reply,  urged  him  to  undertake  an  edi- 
tion of  the  New  Testament.  Undoubtedly  there  was  a 
wide-spread  feeling  that  some  systematic  effort  should  be 
made  towards  disengaging  a  standard  text  from  the  varia- 
tions set  forth  by  Mill. 

Three  years  later  (171G),  Bcntley  received  a  visit  from 
John  James  Wetstein,  a  Swiss,  related  to  the  Amsterdam 
publishers  who  had  reprinted  Bentley's  Horace.      "Wet- 


t56  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

stein  was  then  on  leave  of  absence  from  bis  duties  as  a 
chaplain  in  the  Dutch  army.  For  years  he  had  devoted 
himself  with  rare  ardour  to  those  critical  studies  of  the 
New  Testament  which  were  afterwards  embodied  in  his 
edition  (1751-2).  He  had  recently  collated  some  Greek 
MSS.  in  the  Library  of  Paris.  "  On  hearing  this,"  Wet- 
stein  writes,  Bentley  "urged  me  to  publish  my  collations, 
with  his  aid.  I  pleaded  my  youth,  and  the  shortness  of 
my  leave  of  absence ;  I  asked  him  to  undertake  the  work 
himself,  and  to  use  my  collections.  At  length  I  moved 
the  great  critic  to  entertain  a  design  of  which  he  seemed 
to  have  had  no  thought  before — that  of  editing  the  New 
Testament." 

It  is  assumed  by  Tregelles  that  Wetstein  was  mistaken 
in  supposing  that  Bentley  had  not  previously  contemplated 
an  edition.  Bentley's  studies  on  the  New  Testament  dated, 
it  is  true,  from  his  earliest  manhood ;  there  are  traces  of 
them  in  his  Letter  to  Mill  (1691),  no  less  than  in  his  reply 
to  Collins;  he  had  already  collated  the  Alexandrine  MS., 
and  had  been  using  the  "  Codex  Bezae  "  (his  "  Cantabrigi- 
ensis,"  belonging  to  the  University  Library)  since  1715. 
But  it  does  not  follow  that  Wetstein's  statement  is  not 
accurate.  The  fact  that  Bentley  was  deeply  studying  a 
subject  is  never  sufEcient  to  prove  that  he  meant  to  write 
upon  it. 

Now,  at  any  rate,  the  plan  was  definitely  formed,  and 
Wetstein  returned  to  Paris,  in  order  to  aid  it  by  further 
collations.  Li  April,  1716,  Bentley  announced  his  project 
in  a  remarkable  letter  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
Dr.  Wake.  Monk  hints,  though  he  does  not  say,  that 
Bentley's  object  was  "  to  interest  the  public,"  in  view  of 
imminent  law  proceedings.  I  quite  agree  with  Mr.  A.  A. 
Ellis,  the  editor  of  Bentleii  Critica  Sacra,  that  in  this  case 


X.]       PROrOSED  EDITION  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.      157 

there  is  no  real  ground  for  such  a  suggestion.  Bcntlcy's 
enthusiasm  for  the  work  was  sincere,  as  his  correspond- 
ence with  Wctstein  abundantly  sliows ;  he  did  not  bring 
his  scheme  before  the  public  till  1720;  and  liis  object  in 
addressing  the  Primate  was  no  other  than  that  which  he 
states,  viz.,  to  learn  whether  the  project  was  likely  to  be 
encouraged.  After  sketching  his  plan,  he  observes  to  Dr. 
Wake  that  it  might  be  made  forever  impossible  by  a  fire 
in  the  Royal  Library  of  Paris  or  London.  It  is  startling 
to  read  this  foreboding,  expressed  in  lYlG.  Fifteen  years 
later,  a  fire  actually  broke  out  at  night  in  the  King's  Li- 
brary, then  lodged  at  Abingdon  IIousc,  Westminster — 
when  the  Cottonian  Genesis  was  seriously  damaged.  An 
eye-witness  of  the  scene  has  described  Bcntlcy  hurrying 
out  of  the  burning  Library,  in  his  night-gown  and  his 
great  wig,  with  the  most  precious  of  his  charges,  the 
Alexandrine  manuscript  of  the  Greek  Bible,  under  his 
arm. 

The  Archbishop's  reply  to  Bentlcy  is  not  extant,  but 
appears  to  have  been  favourable.  For  the  next  four  years 
(1716-20)  Bcntley  continued  to  gather  materials.  Wet- 
stein  was  not  his  only  ally.  David  Casley,  the  Deputy 
King's  Librarian,  worked  for  liim  in  the  libraries  of  Ox- 
ford. More  important  still  was  the  aid  of  John  Walker, 
a  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  who  went  to  Paris  in  1719, 
and  passed  nearly  a  year  there  in  collating  manuscripts. 
Walker  was  most  kiiidly  received  by  the  Benedictines  of 
St.  Maur,  with  whom  Bentlcy  had  already  been  placed  in 
communication  by  Wetstein,  They  provided  him  with  a 
room  in  their  monastery  at  St.  Germain  des  Pros,  procured 
collations  from  the  Benedictines  of  Angers,  and  personally 
aided  his  work  in  their  own  library. 

Walker  returned  from  Paris  in  1720.  Bcntley  now 
8 


1\58  BEXTLEY.  [chap. 

published  his  "  Proposals  for  Printing,"  in  which  he  ex- 
plains the  principles  of  his  edition,  lie  observes  that  the 
printed  texts  of  the  New  Testament,  Greek  and  Latin,  are 
based  on  comparatively  recent  manuscripts.  His  aim  has 
been  to  recover  from  older  Latin  manuscripts  the  text  of 
the  Latin  "Vulgate"  as  formed  by  Jerome  [about  383 
A.D.],  and  to  compare  this  with  the  oldest  Greek  manu- 
scripts. Jerome's  version  was  not  only  strictly  literal,  but 
aimed  at  representing  the  very  order  of  the  Greek  words. 
Where  it  agrees  with  our  oldest  Greek  manuscripts,  there, 
Bentley  argues,  we  may  recognise  the  Greek  text  as  re- 
ceived by  the  Church  at  the  time  of  the  Council  of  Nice 
(325  A.D.)  "and  two  centuries  after."  This  test  will  set 
aside  about  four-fifths  of  those  30,000  various  readings 
which  "crowd  the  pages"  of  the  editions.  The  text  of 
the  New  Testament  can  be  fixed  "  to  the  smallest  nicety." 
As  corroborative  evidence,  Bentley  further  proposes  to 
use  the  Syriac,  Coptic,  Gothic,  and  ^Ethiopic  versions  (in 
which  Walton's  Polyglott  would  help  him),  and  the  cita- 
tions by  the  Greek  and  Latin  Fathers,  within  the  first  five 
centuries.  Those  centuries  are  to  be  the  limit  of  the  va- 
rious readings  which  his  foot-notes  will  exhibit.  And  he 
reassures  the  public  mind  on  a  point  which  might  well 
occasion  uneasiness.  "  The  author  is  very  sensible,  that 
in  the  Sacred  Writings  there's  no  place  for  conjectures 
or  emendations."  He  will  not  "  alter  one  letter  in  the 
text"  without  the  authorities  given  in  the  notes,  but  will 
relegate  conjectural  criticism  to  the  Prolegomena.  The 
work  is  to  be  "  a  Charter,  a  Magna  Charta,  to  the  whole 
Christian  Church ;  to  last  when  all  the  ancient  MSS.  here 
quoted  may  be  lost  and  extinguished."  As  a  specimen  of 
his  edition,  Bentley  subjoined  the  last  chapter  of  Revela- 
tion, with  notes  supporting  those  readings  which  he  re- 


X.]       I'KOPOSED  EDITION  ol"  TIIK  NKW  THSTAMKNT.       159 

stores  to  the  text,  whilst  the  "received"  readings,  when 
(lis[)l;iccd,  arc  given  in  the  margin. 

The  "  Proposals "  had  scarcely  appeared  when  they 
were  anonymously  attacked  by  Dr.  Conyers  Middleton, 
who  was  then  in  the  midst  of  his  feud  with  JJentley. 
This  was  the  year  of  the  South  Sea  scheinc,  and  Dr.  Mid- 
dleton allowed  himself  to  write  of  "  Bentley's  Bubble." 
Bentlcy's  reply — founded  on  the  supposition  that  his  as- 
sailant was  Colbatch — was  still  more  deplorable.  Mid- 
dleton then  printed,  with  liis  name,  "Some  Further  Re- 
marks," criticising  the  "Proposals"  more  in  detail,  and 
on  some  points  with  force.  Colbatch  writes  to  Middle- 
ton  :  "According  to  all  that  I  can  speak  with  or  hear 
from,  you  have  laid  Centlcy  Hat  upon  his  back."  Bent- 
ley  writes  to  Atterbury  (now  Bisiiop  of  Rochester)  :  "  I 
scorn  to  read  the  rascal's  book ;  but  if  your  Lordship  will 
send  me  any  part  which  you  think  the  strongest,  I  will 
undertake  to  answer  it  before  night." 

Meanwhile  the  public  subscription  invited  by  the 
"Proposals"  already  amounted,  in  1721,  to  two  thousand 
pounds.  Amidst  many  distractions,  Bentlcy  was  certain- 
ly continuing  to  digest  his  materials.  At  some  time  be- 
fore August,  1726,  he  received  a  most  important  accession 
to  them.  The  "  Vatican  "  manuscript — which  contains 
the  Greek  Testament  in  capital  letters  as  far  as  the  mid- 
dle of  Hebrews  ix. — was  collated  for  Bentlcy  by  an  Ital- 
ian named  Mico,  Thomas  Bentlcy,  the  nephew,  being  at 
Rome  in  172G,  tested  Mico's  work  in  three  chapters,  but 
did  not,  as  has  been  supposed,  make  a  complete  indepen- 
dent collation.  Subsequently  the  Yaticanus  was  again  col- 
lated for  Bentlcy,  so  far  as  concerned  traces  of  hands  oth- 
er than  "  the  first,"  by  the  Abbe  Rulotta,  whose  services 
were  procured  by  the  Baron  de  Stosch,  then  employed  in 


160  BEXTLEY.  [chap. 

Italy  by  the  British  Government  to  watch  the  Pretender. 
Rulotta's  collation  reached  Bentley  in  July,  17 2  9.  Its 
accuracy,  as  compared  with  that  of  Angelo  Mai,  was  rec- 
ognised by  Tischendorf,  when  he  saw  it  at  Trinity  Col- 
lege in  1855.  In  that  same  summer  of  1729  Bentley 
was  making  inquiries  regarding  a  manuscript,  in  the  Li- 
brary of  the  University  of  Dublin,  which  contains  the 
text  of  the  three  witnesses  (l  John  v.  7,  8) :  it  is  that 
which  is  known,  from  the  name  of  the  donor,  as  the  Co- 
dex Montfortianus,  and  is  not  older  than  the  fifteenth 
century.  Considerable  uneasiness  appears  to  have  been 
felt,  after  the  issue  of  Bentley's  "  Proposals,"  at  the  pros- 
pect of  his  omitting  that  text,  against  which  he  had  de- 
cided in  his  lost  dissertation  in  I7l7.  It  is  unnecessary 
to  remind  readers  that  more  recent  criticism  has  finally 
rejected  the  words,  for  which  there  is  no  evidence  in 
Latin  before  at  least  the  latter  part  of  the  fifth  century, 
and  none  in  any  other  language  before  the  fourteenth. 

Here — in  the  summer  of  1729 — it  has  usually  been 
said,  as  by  Monk,  that  all  vestige  of  the  proposed  edition 
ends.  A  slight  but  interesting  trace,  however,  carries  us 
three  years  further.  From  a  marginal  note  in  a  copy  of 
the  quarto  New  Testament  at  Geneva  (1620),  preserved 
in  the  Wake  collection  at  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  it  ap- 
pears that  John  Walker  was  still  making  collations  in 
1732.  These,  it  cannot  be  doubted,  were  auxiliary  to 
Bentley's  edition,  for  which  the  "  Proposals "  designate 
Walker  as  "  overseer  and  corrector  of  the  press."  Seven 
years  more  of  working  life  remained  to  Bentley,  before 
the  paralytic  seizure  which  overtook  him  in  1739.  Why 
w^as  his  edition  never  completed  and  published?  AVe 
need  not  pause  on  the  curiously  inadequate  reason  sug- 
gested by  Wetstein — that  Bentley  resented  the  refusal  of 


X.J       rKulMSKl)  HDITIOX  OF  TIIH  NKW  TESTAMP:NT.      IGl 

tlic  Government  to  remit  tlic  duty  on  foreij^n  paper  which 
he  desired  to  import.  The  d;ites  alone  refute  tliat,  for 
the  incident  occurred  in  1721.  I'robably  the  answer  is 
to  be  sought  in  a  combination  of  two  principal  causes — 
the  worry  of  litigation  which  harassed  him  from  1729  to 
1738;  and  a  growing  sense  of  complexity  in  the  problem 
of  the  text,  especially  after  he  became  better  ac<]uaintod 
with  the  Vatican  readings. 

Bentlcy's  materials  were  bequeathed  by  him  U>  his 
nephew  Kicliard,  {)Ossibly  in  the  hope  that  they  might  be 
edited  and  published.  Nothing  was  done,  however.  I)r. 
Richard  Bentley  returned  the  subscriptions,  and  at  his 
death  in  178G  bequeathed  his  uncle's  collections  to  Trin- 
ity College,  wliere  they  have  since  been  preserved.  Sev- 
eral volumes  contain  the  collations  made  by  Bentley  him- 
self or  by  his  various  assistants — including  Mico's  and 
Rulotta's  collations  of  the  Vaticanus.  The  point  which 
Bentlcy's  critical  work  had  reached  is  best  shov.n  by  a 
folio  copy  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  Vulgate  (Paris,  "apud 
Claudium  Sonnium,"  1628).  "Having  interleaved  it" — 
he  writes  to  Wetstein — "  I  have  made  my  essay  of  restor- 
ing botli  text  and  version  [i.  e.,  both  Greek  and  Latin] ; 
and  they  agree  and  tally  even  to  a  miracle ;  but  there 
will  be  (as  near  as  I  can  guess)  near  6000  variations,  great 
and  little,  from  the  received  Greek  and  Latin  exemplars." 
The  notes  on  the  interleaved  pages  are  in  Bentlcy's  hand- 
writing from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. He  used  this  volume  as  a  general  register  of  re- 
sults obtained  by  his  collations — the  readings  of  the  Vat- 
icanus, which  came  to  him  after  nearly  all  the  rest,  being 
added  in  paler  ink.  It  is  from  this  folio  that  Mr.  Ellis 
prints  (besides  excerpts)  the  whole  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians,  in  his  Bcnthii  Crilica  Sacra  (1SG2);  though  it 


162  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

is  to  be  observed  that  we  cannot  assume  Beutley's  final 
acceptance  of  the  text,  as  there  printed,  except  in  the 
points  on  which  he  has  expressly  touched.  The  notes  on 
Revelation  xxii.  stand  in  the  folio  verbatim  as  they  were 
printed  in  the  "Proposals"  of  1720.  Speaking  generally 
of  the  work  exhibited  by  the  folio,  we  may  say  that  its 
leading  characteristics  are  two — wealth  of  patristic  cita- 
tion, and  laborious  attention  to  the  order  of  words.  It 
may  further  be  observed  that  there  does  not  appear  to  be 
any  trace  of  that  confident  temerity  by  which  Bentley's 
treatment  of  the  classics  was  so  often  marked.  Had  his 
edition  been  published,  the  promise  made  in  the  "  Tro- 
posals"  would,  in  all  probability,  have  been  strictly  kept. 
Conjectural  criticisms  would  have  been  confined  to  the 
Prolegomena. 

A  question  of  great  interest  remains.  What  was  the 
value  of  the  principle  on  which  Bentley  founded  his  de- 
sign, and  liow  far  has  that  principle  been  fruitful  in  later 
work?  Bentley's  undertaking  (as  briefly  defined  in  his 
letter  to  Dr.  Wake)  was,  "  to  give  an  edition  of  the  Greek 
Testament  exactly  as  it  was  in  the  best  exemplars  at  the 
time  of  the  Council  of  Nice"  (325  a.d.).  He  saw  that, 
for  this,  our  ultimate  witnesses  are  the  Greek  manuscripts 
nearest  in  age  to  that  time.  But  it  might  still  be  asked : 
How  can  we  be  sure  that  these  oldest  Greek  manuscripts 
represent  a  text  generally  received  at  the  time  when  they 
were  written  ?  Bentley  replied :  I  compare  them  with 
the  oldest  received  Latin  translation  that  I  can  find.  Such 
a  received  Latin  version  must  have  represented  a  received 
Greek  text.  Where  it  confirms  our  oldest  Greek  manu- 
scripts, there  is  the  strongest  evidence  that  their  text  is 
not  merely  ancient,  but  also  is  that  text  which  the  Church 
received  at  the  time  when  the  Latin  version  was  made. 


x.|       I'KoroSKI)  P:I)1T!()X  of  THK  NKW  testament.       1C3 

Tlic  evidence  of  the  Fathers,  and  of  ancient  versions  otber 
than  Latin,  may  help  to  confirm  the  proof. 

These,  then,  arc  the  two  features  of  Bcntley's  concep- 
tion :  the  appeal  from  recent  documents  to  antiquitij — 
viz.,  to  the  tirst  live  centuries;  and  the  appeal  to  Gnck 
and  Latin  consent. 

In  the  particular  application  of  these  ideas  Centley  la- 
liuured  under  certain  disadvantages  which  were  either  al- 
most or  altogether  inseparable  from  the  time  at  whicli  he 
worked.  First,  it  was  then  scarcely  possible  that  he  should 
.•iilc(|uately  realise  the  history  of  the  Greek  text  previous 
to  his  chosen  date,  the  Council  of  Nice.  The  Alexandrine 
manuscript,  of  the  fifth  centur}',  containing  the  whole  of 
tiie  Xew  Testament  in  Greek  capital  letters,  had  been  pre- 
sented to  Charles  I.  by  Cyril  Lucar,  the  Patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople, in  1G28.  This  was  believed  to  be,  as  Bentley 
calls  it,  "  the  oldest  and  best  in  the  world."  It  was  re- 
garded as  the  typical  ancient  manuscript,  not  only  by  the 
earlier  English  editors,  Walton,  Fell,  and  Mill,  but  by  Ben- 
gel  in  his  edition  of  1734.  This  view  has  since  been  mod- 
ified by  data,  some  of  whicli  were  not  then  available.  Not 
less  than  two  or  three  generations  before  the  Council  of 
Nice  (325  a.d.),  according  to  the  more  recent  investiga- 
tions, two  influential  types  of  text  had  already  diverged 
from  the  apostolic  original.  These  have  been  called  the 
"Western"  and  the  "Alexandrian."  Both  arc  "Pre- 
Syrian" — to  use  the  convenient  term  adopted  by  Dr. 
Westcott  and  Dr.  Ilort — in  distinction  from  the  "*Syr/a»i" 
Greek  text  formed  at  Antioch  at  some  time  between  250 
and  350  a.d.  The  "  Syrian "  text  was  eclectic,  drawing 
on  both  the  aberrant  Pre-Syrian  types,  "  Western "  and 
"  Alexandrian,"  as  well  as  on  texts  independent  of  those 
two  aberrations.     In  a  revised  form  the  Syrian  text  finally 


164  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

prevailed ;  a  result  due  partly  to  the  subsequent  oontrao- 
tion  of  Greek  Christendom,  partly  to  its  centralisation  at 
Constantinople,  the  ecclesiastical  daughter  of  Antioch. 

Four  manuscripts  of  the  "  uncial  "class  (written  in  cap- 
itals, as  distinguished  from  "  cursive ")  stand  out  as  the 
oldest  Greek  copies  of  the  New  Testament.  Two  belong 
probably  to  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century.  One  of 
these  is  the  Vatican  manuscript,  of  which  Bentley  had  no 
detailed  knowledge  at  the  time  when  he  published  his 
"Proposals."  Its  text  is  Pre-Syrian,  and  thus  far  unique, 
that  in  most  parts  it  is  free  from  both  Western  and  Alex- 
andrian corruptions.  The  other  fourth  century  manuscript 
is  the  Sinaitic,  of  which  the  New  Testament  portion  first 
came  into  Tischendorfs  hands  in  1859.  This  also  is  Pre- 
Syrian,  but  with  elements  both  Western  and  Alexandrian. 
The  Codex  Alexandrinus,  which  Bentley's  age  deemed  the 
oldest  and  best,  is  fundamentally  Syrian  in  the  Gospels : 
in  the  other  books  it  is  still  partially  Syrian,  though  Pre- 
Syrian  readings.  Western  and  Alexandrian  included,  are 
proportionally  more  numerous.  Thus  it  contains  through- 
out at  least  one  disturbing  element  which  is  absent  from 
the  Sinaitic,  and  at  least  three  which  in  most  of  the  books 
are  absent  from  the  Vaticanus.  The  fourth  of  the  oldest 
uncials  is  one  which  Wetstein  twice  collated  at  Paris  for 
Bentley — that  known  as  the  Codex  Ephraemi,  because 
some  writings  attributed  to  Ephraem  Syrus  have  been 
traced  over  the  New  Testament.  It  is  coeval  with  the 
Alexandrinus,  belonging  to  the  fifth  century;  and,  while 
partly  Syrian,  it  also  contains  much  derived  from  the  ear- 
lier texts.  In  addition  to  the  general  but  erroneous  belief 
as  to  the  unique  value  of  the  Alexandrine  manuscript,  a 
singular  accident  (noticed  by  Dr.  Ilort)  must  have  greatly 
strengthened  Bentley's  belief  in  the  decisiveness  of  the 


X.]      PROPOSED  EDITION  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.      1G5 

agreement  between  that  dociiment  and  the  ViilL;;atc.  Je- 
rome, in  preparing  the  Vulgate,  appears  to  have  used  a 
Greek  manuscript  which  lia[>pcned  to  have  many  peculiar 
readings  in  common  witli  the  Alcxandrinus,  and  to  have 
been  partly  derived  from  the  same  original. 

The  reader  will  now  be  able  to  imagine  the  effect  which 
must  have  been  gradually  wrought  on  Bcntley's  mind,  as 
he  came  to  know  the  Vaticanus  better.  \Vith  his  rare 
tact  and  insight,  he  could  hardly  fail  to  perceive  that  this 
was  a  document  of  first-rate  importance,  yet  one  of  which 
the  evidence  could  not  be  satisfactorily  reconciled  with 
the  comparatively  simple  hypothesis  which  he  had  based 
on  the  assumed  primacy  of  the  Alexandrine.  For  his  im- 
mediate purpose,  it  was  of  far  less  importance  that  he  was 
partly  in  error  as  to  his  Latin  standard.  His  view  on  that 
subject  is  connected  with  a  curious  instance  of  his  bold- 
ness in  conjectural  criticism.  Referring  to  "  interpreta- 
tiones"  or  versions  of  the  Bible,  Augustine  once  says, 
"Let  the  Italian  {Itala)  be  preferred  to  the  rest,  since  it 
combines  greater  closeness  with  clearness  "  {De  Doctr.  Cltr. 
II.  15).  Bentley,  with  a  rashness  which  even  he  seldom 
exceeded,  declared  that  the  "Italian  version  is  a  mere 
dream  :"  Itala,  in  Augustine,  should  be  ilia.  Archbishop 
Potter's  vsitata,  viewed  merely  as  an  emendation,  was  far 
more  intrinsically  probable ;  but  Cardinal  Wiseman's  ar- 
guments in  his  letters  (1832-3) — reinforced  by  Lachmann's 
illustrations — have  placed  it  beyond  reasonable  doubt  that 
Augustine  really  wrote  Ilala.  As  to  his  meaning,  all  that 
is  certain  is  that  he  intended  to  distinguish  this  "  Italian  " 
text  from  the  "African"  {codices  Afros)  which  he  men- 
tions elsewhere.  Of  a  Latin  version,  or  Latin  versions, 
prior  to  Jerome's — which  was  a^'ecension,  with  the  aid  of 
Greek   MSS.,  not  a  new   and   original   version — Bcntlcy 


166  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

could  scarcely  know  anything.  The  documents  were  first 
made  accessible  in  Bianchini's  Evangellarlum  Quadru2')lex 
(1749),  and  the  Benedictine  Sabatier's  Bibliorum  Sacro- 
rum  Latlnae  Versiones  Antiqiiae  (l751).  It  must  be  re- 
membered, however,  that  Bcntley's  aim  was  to  restore  the 
text  as  received  in  the  fourth  century  ;  he  did  not  profess 
to  restore  the  text  of  an  earlier  age. 

Bcntley's  edition  would  have  given  to  the  world  the 
readings  of  all  the  older  Greek  MSS.  then  known,  and  an 
apparatus,  still  unequalled  in  its  range  of  authorities,  for 
the  text  of  the  Latin  Vulgate  New  Testament :  but  it 
would  have  done  more  still.  Whatever  might  have  been 
its  defects,  it  would  have  represented  the  earliest  attempt 
to  construct  a  text  of  the  New  Testament  directly  from 
the  most  ancient  documents,  without  reference  to  any 
printed  edition.  A  century  passed  before  such  an  attempt 
was  again  made.  Bcntley's  immediate  successors  in  this 
field  did  not  work  on  his  distinctive  lines.  In  lV26  Ben- 
gel's  Greek  Testament  was  almost  ready  for  the  press,  and 
he  writes  thus :  "  What  principally  holds  me  back  is  the 
delay  of  Bcntley's  promised  edition.  .  .  .  Bentley  possesses 
invaluable  advantages;  but  he  has  prepossessions  of  his 
own  which  may  prove  very  detrimental  to  the  Received 
Text:"  this  "received  text"  being,  in  fact,  the  Syrian  text 
in  its  mediseval  form.  Bengel's  text,  published  at  Tubin- 
gen in  1734,  was  not  based  on  Bcntley's  principles,  though 
the  value  of  these  is  incidentally  recognised  in  his  discus- 
sions. AVetstein's  edition  of  1751-2  supplied  fresh  ma- 
terials ;  in  criticism,  however,  he  represents  rather  a  re- 
action from  Bcntley's  view,  for  his  tendency  was  to  find 
traces  of  corruption  in  any  close  agreement  between  the 
ancient  Greek  MSS.  and  the  ancient  versions.  Gries- 
bach   prepared   the   way   for  a  properly  critical   text   by 


x]       rUdl'O.SED  EDITION  OF  THK  NKW  TIIST.V.MKNT       107 

sec-king  an  historical  basis  in  the  gcncalof,'y  of  the  docu- 
ments. 

JUit  it  was  Lacliinann,  in  his  small  edition  of  1831,  who 
first  <j^a\o  a  modified  fiiitihncnt  to  IJentley's  desi<^n,  by 
publishing  a  text  irrespective  of  the  printed  tradition,  and 
based  wholly  on  the  ancient  authorities.  Lachraann  also 
applied  Bentley's  princi[)le  of  Greek  and  Latin  consent. 
As  Bentley  had  proposed  to  use  the  Vulgate  Latin,  so 
Lachmann  used  what  he  deemed  the  best  MSS.  of  the  Old 
Latin — combined  with  some  Latin  Fathers  and  with  such 
Greek  MSS.  as  were  manifestly  of  the  same  type.  Lach- 
mann compared  this  group  of  witnesses  from  the  West 
with  the  other  or  "  Eastern "  Greek  authorities ;  and, 
where  they  agreed,  he  laid  stress  on  that  agreement  as 
a  security  for  the  genuineness  of  readings.  Bentley  had 
intended  to  print  the  Greek  text  and  the  Vulgate  Latin 
side  by  side.  Lachraann,  in  his  larger  edition  (1840- 
1852),  so  far  executed  this  plan  as  to  print  at  the  foot 
of  the  page  a  greatly  improved  Vulgate  text,  based  chiefly 
on  the  two  oldest  MSS.  For  Lachmann,  however,  the  au- 
thority of  the  Vulgate  was  only  accessory  ("  Ilieronymo 
pro  so  auctore  non  ntiniKr^''),  on  account  of  the  higher  an- 
tiquity of  the  Old  Latin,  Those  who  taunted  Lachmann 
with  "aping"  Bentley  ("simia  Bentleii")  misrepresented 
both.  It  is  to  Lachmann  and  to  Tregelles  that  we  prima- 
rily owe  the  revived  knowledge  and  appreciation  in  this 
country  of  Bcntlcy's  labours  on  the  New  Testament,  to 
which  Tischendorf  also  accords  recognition  in  his  edition 
of  1859. 

Bentley's  place  in  the  history  of  sacred  criticism  agrees 
with  the  general  character  of  his  work  in  other  provinces. 
Ilis  ideas  were  in  advance  of  his  age,  and  also  of  the 
means  at  his  disposal  for  executing  them.     He  gave  an 


168  BENTLEY.  [ciiap.  x. 

initial  impulse,  of  which  the  effect  could  not  be  destroyed 
by  the  limitation  or  defeat  of  his  personal  labours.  After 
a  hundred  years  of  comparative  neglect,  his  conception  re- 
appeared as  an  element  of  acknowledg'ed  value  in  the 
methods  of  riper  research.  The  edition  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament published  last  year  (1881)  by  Dr.  Westcott  and 
Dr.  Hort  represents  a  stage  of  criticism  which  necessarily 
lay  beyond  Bentley's  horizon.  Yet  it  is  the  maturest  em- 
bodiment of  principles  which  had  in  him  their  earliest  ex- 
ponent ;  and  those  very  delays  which  closed  over  his  great 
design  may  in  part  be  regarded  as  attesting  his  growing 
perception  of  the  rule  on  which  the  Cambridge  Editors  so 
justly  lay  stress:  "Knowledge  of  documents  should  pre- 
cede final  judgment  upon  readings." 


CHAPTER  XL 

ENGLISH   STYLE. —  EDITION    OF    "  PARADISE    LOST." 

As  a  writer  of  English,  Bentley  is  represented  by  tlic  Dis- 
sertation on  Phalaris,  the  Boyle  Lectures,  the  Remarks  on 
a  Discourse  of  Free-thinking,  sermons,  and  letters.  These 
fall  mainly  within  the  period  from  1G90  to  1730.  Dur- 
ing the  earlier  half  of  Bentley's  life  the  canon  of  polite 
prose  was  Dryden  or  Temple ;  during  the  latter  half  it 
was  Addison.  Bentley's  English  is  stamped,  as  we  shall 
sec,  with  the  mind  of  his  age,  but  has  been  very  little  in- 
fluenced by  any  phase  of  its  manner.  His  style  is  thor- 
oughly individual;  it  is,  in  fact,  the  man,  Tiic  most 
striking  trait  is  the  nervous,  homely  English.  "  Com- 
mend mc  to  the  man  that  with  a  thick  hide  and  solid 
forehead  can  stand  blufiE  against  plain  matter  of  fact." 
"  If  the  very  first  Epistle,  of  nine  lines  only,  has  taken  me 
up  four  pages  in  scouring,  what  a  sweet  piece  of  work 
should  I  have  of  it  to  cleanse  all  the  rest  for  them  1" 
"Alas,  poor  Sophist!  'twas  ill  luck  he  took  none  of  the 
money,  to  fee  his  advocates  lustily ;  for  this  is  like  to  be 
a  hard  brush."  The  "  polite  "  writers  after  the  Restora- 
tion had  discarded  such  English  as  vulgar;  and  we  have 
seen  that  Boyle's  Oxford  friends  complained  of  Bentley's 
"descending  to  low  and  mean  ways  of  spcecli."  But,  if 
we  allow  for  the  special  influeace  of  scriptural  language 


170  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

on  tbe  PiJgrini's  Progress,  Bentley  drew  from  the  same 
well  as  John  Banyan,  who  died  when  Bentley  was  sixteen. 
Yet  Bentley's  simple  English  is  racy  in  a  way  peculiar  to 
him.  It  has  the  tone  of  a  strong  mind  which  goes 
straight  to  the  truth  ;  it  is  pointed  with  the  sarcasm  of 
one  whose  own  knowledge  is  thorough  and  exact,  but  who 
is  accustomed  to  find  imposture  wrapped  up  in  fine  or 
vague  words,  and  takes  an  ironical  delight  in  using  the 
very  homeliest  images  and  phrases  which  accurately  fit 
the  matter  in  hand.  No  one  has  excelled  Bentley  in  the 
power  of  making  a  pretentious  fallacy  absurd  by  the  mere 
force  of  translation  into  simple  terms ;  no  writer  of  Eng- 
lish has  shown  greater  skill  in  touching  the  hidden  springs 
of  its  native  humour. 

Here  Bentley  is  the  exponent,  in  his  own  way,  of  a 
spirit  which  animated  the  age  of  Addison  and  Pope — the 
assertion  of  clear  common-sense — the  desire,  as  Mr.  Leslie 
Stephen  says,  "  to  expel  the  mystery  which  had  served  as 
a  cloak  for  charlatans."  Bentley's  English  style  reflects, 
however,  another  side  on  which  he  was  not  in  sympathy 
with  the  tendencies  of  contemporary  literature.  A  scholar 
of  profound  learning  and  original  vigour  had  things  to 
say  which  could  not  always  be  said  with  the  sparkling 
ease  of  coffee-house  conversation.  Bentley's  colloquialism 
is  that  of  strenuous  argument,  not  that  of  polished  small 
talk.  As  an  outward  symbol  of  his  separateness  from  the 
"  wits,"  we  may  observe  his  use  of  the  Latin  element  in 
English.  The  sermons  of  Jeremy  Taylor,  whose  life 
closed  soon  after  Bentley's  began,  abound  in  portentous 
Latin  words — longanimity,  recidivation,  coadunation.  Bent- 
ley has  nothing  like  these ;  yet  the  Boyle  party,  who 
charged  his  style  with  vulgarity,  charged  it  also  with  ped- 
antry. 


XI.]  EXGLISII  STYLE.  171 

lie  answers  this  in  the  Dissertation  on  I'hahuis,  "  If 
such  a  general  censure  liaJ  been  always  faNtdieil  upon 
tliosc  that  cnricli  our  hinguage  from  the  Latin  and  Greek 
stores,  wliat  a  fine  condition  had  our  hmguagc  been  in  I 
'Tis  well  known,  it  has  scarce  any  words,  beside  monosyl- 
lables, of  its  native  growth  ;  and  were  all  the  rest  iniportcd 
and  introduced  by  pedants.^  .  .  .  The  words  in  my  bo(;k, 
whicli  he  excepts  against,  arc  commentilious,  repudiate,  con- 
cede, aliene,  vcraacular,  timid,  nci/occ,  putid,',md  idiom;  ev- 
eryone of  which  were  in  print, before  I  used  them;  and  most 
of  them,  before  I  was  born."  AVe  note  in  passing  that  all 
but  three  of  this  list — commentilious,  pulid,  negoce — have 
lived;  and  we  remember  De  Quincey's  story  about  negoce 
— that  when  he  was  a  boy  at  school  (about  the  year  1798) 
the  use  of  this  word  by  the  master  suggested  to  him  that 
otium  cum  dignitate  might  be  rendered  "  oce  in  combina- 
tion with  dignity"  —  which  made  him  laugh  aloud,  and 
therebv  forfeit  all  "  oce  "  for  three  days.  Then  Bentley 
remarks  that  the  "  E.vaminer's"  illustrious  relative,  Robert 
Boyle,  had  used  ignore  and  recog'.iosce — "  whicii  nobody 
has  yet  thought  fit  to  follow  him  in."  It  is  curious  to 
find  De  Quinccy  saying,  in  1830,  that  ignore  is  Irish,  and 
obsolete  in  England  "except  in  the  use  of  grand  juries;" 
and  even  in  1857,  it  seems,  some  purists  demurred  to  it. 
"  I  would  rather  use,  not  my  own  words  only,  but  even 
these  too  " — Bentley  concludes — "  than  that  single  word 
of  the  Examiner's,  cotemporary,  which  is  a  downright  bar- 
barism. For  the  Latins  never  use  co  for  con,  except  be- 
fore a  vowel,  as  coequal,  coeternal ;  but,  before  a  conso- 
nant, they  either  retain  the  n,  as  contemporary,  constitu- 
tion; or  melt  it  into  another  letter,  as  collection,  comprehen- 
sion. So  that  the  Examiner's  cotemporary  is  a  word  of  his 
co])osition,  for  which  the  learned  world  will  cogratulate  him." 


172  BEXTLEY.  [chap. 

Bentley's  view  as  to  tlie  probable  future  of  the  Englisli 
language  appears  from  another  place  in  the  Dissertation. 
"The  great  alterations  it  has  undergone  in  the  two  last 
centuries  [1500-1700]  are  principally  owing  to  that  vast 
stock  of  Latin  words  which  we  have  transplanted  into  our  ^ 
own  soil:  which  being  now  in  a  manner  exhausted,  one 
may  easily  presage  that  it  will  not  have  such  changes  in 
the  two  next  centuries.  Nay,  it  were  no  difficult  contriv- 
ance, if  the  public  had  any  regard  to  it,  to  make  the  Eng- 
lish tongue  immutable,  unless  hereafter  some  foreign  na- 
tion shall  invade  and  overrun  us."  This  is  in  seeming 
contrast  with  Bentley's  own  description  of  language  as  an 
organism  liable  to  continual  change,  "  like  the  perspiring 
bodies  of  living  creatures  in  perpetual  motion  and  altera- 
tion." But  the  inconsistency,  I  think,  is  only  apparent. 
He  refers  to  the  English  vocabulary  as  a  whole.  By  "  im- 
mutable" he  docs  not  mean  to  exclude  the  action  of  time 
on  details  of  form  or  usage,  but  rather  points  to  such  a 
standard  as  the  French  Academy  sought  to  fix  for  the 
French  language.  Since  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, the  ordinary  English  vocabulary  has  lost  some  for- 
eign words,  and  acquired  others ;  on  the  whole,  the  foreign 
clement  has  probably  not  gained  ground.  Here  is  a  rough 
test.  Mr.  Marsh  has  estimated  the  percentage  of  English 
to  non-English  words  in  several  English  classics.  Swift's 
is  about  YO  (in  one  essay,  only  68) ;  Gibbon's,  70 ;  John- 
son's, 72  ;  Macaulay's,  75.  Bentley's  own  average  would, 
I  think,  be  nearly,  if  not  quite,  as  high  as  Macaulay's,  and 
for  a  like  reason ;  his  literary  diction  was  comparatively 
close  to  the  living  speech  of  educated  men  in  his  day. 
This,  indeed,  is  a  marked  feature  of  all  Bentley's  work, 
whatever  the  subject  or  form  may  be ;  the  author's  per- 
sonality is  so  vividly  present  in  it  that  it  is  less  like  writ- 
ing than  speaking. 


xt.]  ENGLISH  STYIJ:.  173 

As  in  Sliakspcarc,  wc  meet  witli  those  faults  of  grammar 
wbicli  people  were  apt  to  make  in  talking,  or  which  liatl 
even  come  to  be  thought  idiomatic,  through  the  habit  of 
the  ear.  Bcntlcy  can  say,  "neither  of  these  two  improve- 
ments arc  registered" — *^  those  sort  of  requests" — "I'll 
dispute  with  nobody  about  nothinrj^''  (meaning,  "about 
anything") — "  no  goat  had  been  there  neither.''''  This  sym- 
pathy with  living  speech,  and  comparative  negligence  of 
rigid  syntax,  may  help  us  to  sec  how  Bentley's  genius  was 
in  accord  with  Greek,  the  voice  of  life,  rather  than  with 
Latin,  the  expression  of  law.  The  scholarly  trait  of  Bent- 
ley's  style  is  not  precise  composition,  but  propriety  in 
the  use  of  words,  whether  of  English  or  of  Latin  growth. 
Some  of  these  Latinisms,  though  etymologically  right, 
seem  odd  now:  "an  acutencss /aw<7<ar  to  him," /.  e.,  pe- 
culiarly his  own:  "cxcis/o?*"  for  "utter  destruction:"  "a 
plain  and  jmnctiial  testimony"  —  /.  f.,  just  to  the  point. 
Yet,  on  the  whole,  Bentley's  vocabulary  contains  a  de- 
cidedly larger  proportion  of  pure  English  than  was  then 
usual  in  the  higher  literature.  No  one  is  less  pedantic. 
At  his  best  he  is,  in  his  own  way,  matchless :  at  his  worst, 
he  is  sometimes  rough  or  clumsy ;  but  he  is  never  weak, 
and  never  anything  else  than  natural.  His  style  in  hand- 
to-hand  critical  combat — as  in  the  Phalaris  Dissertation — 
is  that  by  which  he  is  best  known.  I  may  here  give  a 
short  specimen  of  a  different  manner,  from  a  Sermon 
which  he  preached  at  St.  James's  in  1717.  He  is  speak- 
ing on  the  words,  "none  of  us  liveth  to  himself"  (Ro- 
mans xiv.  7) : 

"  Without  society  and  government,  man  would  be  found  in  a  worse 
condition  than  tlie  very  beasts  of  tlic  field.  That  divine  ray  of  rea- 
son, which  is  his  privilege  above  the  brutes,  would  only  serve  in  that 
case  to  make  him  more  sensible  of  his  want?,  and  more  uneasy  and 


174  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

melancholic  under  them.  Now,  if  society  and  mutual  friendship  be 
so  essential  and  necessary  to  the  happiness  of  mankind,  'tis  a  clear 
consequence,  that  all  such  obligations  as  are  necessary  to  maintain 
society  and  friendship  are  incumbent  on  every  man.  No  one,  there- 
fore, that  lives  in  society,  and  expects  his  share  in  the  benefits  of  it, 
can  be  said  to  live  to  himself. 

"No,  he  lives  to  his  prince  and  his  country;  he  lives  to  his  parents 
and  his  family ;  he  lives  to  his  friends  and  to  all  under  his  trust ;  he 
lives  even  to  foreigners,  under  the  mutual  sanctions  and  stipulations 
of  alliance  and  commerce ;  nay,  he  lives  to  the  whole  race  of  man- 
kind :  whatsoever  has  the  character  of  man,  and  wears  the  same  im- 
age of  God  that  he  does,  is  truly  his  brother,  and,  on  account  of  that 
natural  consanguinity,  has  a  just  claim  to  his  kindness  and  benevo- 
lence. .  .  .  The  nearer  one  can  arrive  to  this  universal  charity,  this 
benevolence  to  all  human  race,  the  more  he  has  of  the  divine  charac- 
ter imprinted  on  his  soul ;  for  God  is  love,  says  the  apostle ;  be  de- 
lights in  the  happiness  of  all  his  creatures.  To  this  public  principle 
we  owe  our  thanks  for  the  inventors  of  sciences  and  arts;  for  the 
founders  of  kingdoms,  and  first  institutors  of  laws ;  for  the  heroes 
that  hazard  or  abandon  their  own  lives  for  the  dearer  love  of  their 
country ;  for  the  statesmen  that  generously  sacrifice  their  private 
profit  and  ease  to  establish  the  public  peace  and  prosperity  for  ages 
to  come. 

"And  if  nature's  still  voice  be  listened  to,  this  is  really  not  only 
the  noblest,  but  the  pleasantest  employment.  For  though  gratitude, 
and  a  due  acknowledgment  and  return  of  kindness  received,  is  a  de- 
sirable good,  and  implanted  in  our  nature  by  God  himself,  as  a  spur 
to  mutual  beneficence,  yet,  in  the  whole,  'tis  certainly  much  more 
pleasant  to  love  than  to  be  beloved  again.  For  the  sweetness  and 
felicity  of  life  consists  in  duly  exerting  and  employing  those  sociable 
passions  of  the  soul,  those  natural  inclinations  to  charity  and  com- 
passion. And  he  that  has  given  his  mind  a  contrary  turn  and  bias, 
that  has  made  it  the  seat  of  selfishness  and  of  unconcernment  for  all 
about  him,  has  deprived  himself  of  the  greatest  comfort  and  relish 
of  life.  Whilst  he  foolishly  designs  to  live  to  himself  alone,  he  loses 
that  very  thing  which  makes  life  itself  desirable.  So  that,  in  a 
word,  if  we  are  created  by  our  Maker  to  enjoy  happiness  and  con- 
tentment in  our  being ;  if  we  are  born  for  society,  and  friendship, 
and  mutual  assistance ;  if  we  are  designed  to  live  as  men,  and  not  as 


XI.]  ENGLISH  STYLE.  175 

wild  beasts  of  the  desert ;  wc  must  truly  say,  in  the  word.s  of  our 
text,  that  none  of  us  Vtveth  to  hiinsel/." 

It  will  be  noticc'tl  that  in  the  above  extract  there  are  no 
sentences  of  unwickly  length,  no  involved  construction.s, 
such  as  usually  encumbered  the  more  elaborate  prose  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  Comparatively  short  sentences, 
and  lucid  structure,  are  general  marks  of  Bentley's  English  ; 
and  here,  again,  he  reflects  the  desire  of  his  age  for  clear- 
ness. It  has  been  said  that  the  special  work  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  was  to  form  prose  style.  Bentley  has  his 
peculiar  place  among  its  earlier  masters. 

Mention  is  due  to  the  only  English  ver.^es  which  he  is 
known  to  have  written  after  boyhood.  When  Johnson 
recited  them,  Adam  Smith  remarked  that  they  were  "very 
well;  very  well.'"  "  Yes,  they  are  very  well,  sir,"  said 
Johnson  ;  "  but  you  may  observe  in  what  m-mner  they 
are  well.  They  are  the  forcible  verses  of  a  man  of  strong 
mind,  but  not  accustomed  to  write  verse  ;  for  there  is  some 
uncouthness  in  the  expression."  A  Trinity  undergraduate 
had  written  a  graceful  imitation  of  Horace's  Ode,  Angus- 
tarn  amice  pauperiem  pati  (in.  ii.) ;  with  which  Bentley 
was  so  much  pleased  that  he  straightway  composed  a  par- 
ody on  it.  The  gist  of  the  young  man's  piece  is  that  an 
exemplary  student  is  secure  of  applause  and  happiness ; 
Bentley  sings  that  he  is  pretty  sure  to  be  attacked,  and 
very  likely  to  be  shelved.  The  choice  of  typical  men  is 
interesting;  Xewton,  and  the  geologist,  John  AVoodward, 
for  science  ;  Seldcn,  for  erudition  ;  for  theological  contro- 
vci*sy,  Whiston,  whom  the  University  had  expelled  on  ac- 
count of  his  Arianism.  (The  following  is  Monk's  version  : 
Boswell's  differs  in  a  few  points,  mostly  for  the  worse ; 
but  in  V.  11  rightly  gives  "  days  and  nights  "  for  "  day  and 
night.") 


1Y6  BENTLEY. 

"  Who  strives  to  mount  Parnassus'  hill, 
And  thence  poetic  laurels  bring, 
Must  first  acquire  due  force  and  skill, 
Must  fly  with  swan's  or  eagle's  wing. 

"  Who  Nature's  treasures  would  explore, 
Her  mysteries  and  arcana  know. 
Must  high,  as  lofty  Newton,  soar. 

Must  stoop,  as  delving  Woodward,  low. 

"  Who  studies  ancient  laws  and  rites, 
Tongues,  arts,  and  arms,  all  history, 
Must  drudge,  hke  Selden,  days  and  nights, 
And  in  the  endless  labour  die. 


[chap. 


"  Who  travels*  in  religious  jarrs,  *  ^  "■««""■'»• 

Truth  mix'd  with  error,  shade  with  rays, 
Like  Whiston,  wanting  pyx  and  stars, 
In  ocean  wide  or  sinks  or  strays. 

"  But  grant  our  hero's  hope,  long  toil 
And  comprehensive  genius  crown, 
All  sciences,  all  arts  his  spoil, 

Yet  what  reward,  or  what  renown  ? 

"  EsvT,  innate  in  vulgar  souls. 

Envy  steps  in  and  stops  his  rise ; 
Envy  with  poison'd  tarnish  fouls 
His  lustre,  and  his  worth  decries. 

"  He  lives  inglorious  or  in  want. 

To  college  and  old  books  confin'd ; 
Instead  of  learn'd,  he's  call'd  pedilnt ; 

Dunces  advanc'd,  he's  left  behind : 
Yet  left  content,  a  genuine  stoic  he. 
Great  without  patron,  rich  without  South-sea." 

The  tliird  line  from  the  end  is  significant.     He  had 
been  mentioned  for  a  bishopric  once  or  twice,  but  passed 


XI.]  EDITION  OF  PARADISE  LOST.  177 

over.  Tu  IVOO,  wlion  Cliiclicstcr  was  vacant,  IJaroii  S[)an- 
lieim  ami  the  Earl  of  I'eiiibrukc  (then  Lord  Hij^li  Ailmi- 
ral)  had  vainly  used  tliuir  interest  for  Bentlcy.  Wc  liave 
seen  that  in  1724 — about  two  years  after  these  verses  were 
written — he  declined  the  see  of  Bristol, 

Now  wc  must  consider  Bcntley's  criticisms  on  Paradise 
Lost.  In  1725  an  edition  of  that  poem  had  appeared 
with  a  Life  of  Milton  by  Elijah  Fenton  (1G83-1730),  who 
helped  Pope  in  translating  the  Odyssey.  Fenton  inci- 
dentally suggested  some  corrections  of  words  which,  he 
thought,  might  have  taken  the  place  of  other  words  simi- 
lar in  sound.  This  seems  to  have  put  Bcntley  on  his 
mettle :  at  any  rate,  he  is  said  to  have  meditated  notes  in 
1V20.  His  edition  of  Paradise  Lost  appeared  in  1732, 
and  is  said  to  have  been  immediately  due  to  a  wish  ex- 
pressed by  Queen  Caroline  "  that  the  great  critic  should 
exercise  his  talents  upon  an  edition"  of  Milton,  "and  thus 
gratify  those  readers  who  could  not  enjoy  his  celebrated 
lucubrations  on  classical  writers."  It  may  safely  be  as- 
sumed, however,  that  the  royal  lady  did  not  contemplate 
any  such  work  as  our  Aristarchus  produced.  Probably 
she  thought  that  the  learning,  especially  classical  learning, 
which  enters  so  largely  into  Milton's  epic  would  afford  a 
good  field  for  illustrative  commentary  to  a  classical  scholar. 

'"Tis  but  common  justice" — Bcntley's  preface  begins 
— "  to  let  the  purchaser  know  what  he  is  to  expect  in  this 
new  edition  of  Paradise  Lost.  Our  celebrated  Author, 
when  he  compos'd  this  poem,  being  obnoxious  to  the  Gov- 
ernment, poor,  friendless,  and,  what  is  worst  of  all,  blind 
with  a  f/utta  serena,  could  only  dictate  his  verses  to  he 
writ  by  another."  The  amanuensis  made  numerous  mis- 
takes in  spelling  and  pointing;  Bcntley  says  that  he  has 
tacitly  corrected  these  merely  clerical  errors.     But  there 


178  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

was  a  more  serious  oSender  than  the  amanuensis ;  namely, 
the  editor.  This  person  owes  his  existence  to  Bentley's 
vigorous  imagination.  "  The  friend  or  acquaintance,  who- 
ever he  was,  to  whom  Milton  committed  his  copy  and  the 
overseeing  of  the  press,  did  so  vilely  execute  that  trust, 
that  Paradise  under  his  ignorance  and  audaciousness  may 
be  said  to  be  tioice  lost.^^  This  editor  is  responsible  for 
many  careless  changes  of  word  or  phrase;  for  instance: 

"  oil  the  secret  top 
Of  Horeb  or  of  Sinai — " 

"  secret "  is  this  editor's  blunder  for  "  sacred,"  Bentley 
gives  48  examples  of  such  culpable  carelessness.  But 
even  that  is  not  the  worst.  "  This  suppos'd  Friend  (call'd 
in  these  Notes  the  Editor),  knowing  Milton's  bad  circum.- 
stances" — the  evil  days  and  evil  tongues— profited  by 
them  to  perpetrate  a  deliberate  fraud  of  the  most  heart- 
less kind.  Having  a  turn  for  verse-writing,  he  actually 
interpolated  many  lines  of  his  own ;  Bentley  gives  66  of 
them  as  examples.  They  can  always  be  "detected  by 
their  own  silliness  and  unfitness."  So  much  for  the  half- 
educated  amanuensis  and  the  wholly  depraved  editor.  But 
Milton  himself  has  made  some  "  slips  and  inadvertencies 
too ;"  there  arc  "  some  inconsistences  [sic]  in  the  system 
and  plan  of  his  poem,  for  want  of  his  revisal  of  the  whole 
before  its  publication."  Sixteen  examples  are  then  given. 
These  are  beyond  merely  verbal  emendation.  They  re- 
quire "  a  change  both  of  words  and  sense."  Bentley  lays 
stress  on  the  fact  that  he  merely  suggests  remedies  for 
the  errors  due  to  Milton  himself,  but  does  not  "obtrude" 
them ;  adding,  "  it  is  hoped,  even  these  will  not  be  found 
absurd,  or  disagreeing  from  the  Miltonian  character;"  and 
he  quotes  from  Virgil :  "  I,  too,  have  written  verses :  me 


aa.]  EDITION  OF  PARADISE  LOST.  179 

also  the  slicplicrds  call  a  sinj^cr;  but  I  will  not  lightly  be- 
lieve them."  This  is  perhaps  the  only  thing  in  the  pref- 
ace that  distinctly  suggests  senility;  it  afterwards  gave 
rise  to  this  doggrel : 

"How  could  vile  sycophants  contrive 
A  lie  so  gross  to  raise, 
Which  even  Bcnlley  can't  believe, 
Though  spoke  in  his  own  praise  ?" 

The  preface  conchulcs  with  a  glowing  tribute  to  Milton's 
great  poem.  Labouring  under  all  this  "  miserable  de- 
formity by  the  press,"  it  could  still  charm,  like  "  Terence's 
beautiful  Virgin,  who,  in  spite  of  neglect,  sorrow,  and  beg- 
garly habit,  did  yet  appear  so  very  amiable."  There  is 
some  real  pathos  in  the  following  passage — remarkable 
as  the  only  one  (so  far  as  I  know)  in  Bentley's  writings 
where  he  alludes  to  the  long  troubles  of  his  College  life  as 
causes  of  pain,  and  not  merely  of  interruption : 

"  But  I  wonder  not  so  much  at  the  poem  itself,  though  worthy  of  all 
wonder ;  as  that  the  author  could  so  abstract  his  thoughts  from  his 
own  troubles,  as  to  be  able  to  make  it ;  that  confin'd  in  a  narrow 
and  to  him  a  dark  chamber,  surrounded  with  cares  and  fears,  he 
could  spatiate  at  large  through  the  compass  of  the  whole  universe, 
and  through  all  heaven  beyond  it ;  could  survey  all  periods  of  time, 
from  before  the  creation  to  the  consummation  of  all  things.  This 
theory  [i.e.,  contemplation],  no  doubt,  was  a  great  solace  to  him  in 
his  affliction ;  but  it  shows  in  him  a  greater  strength  of  spirit,  that 
made  him  capable  of  such  a  solace.  And  it  would  almost  seem  to 
me  to  be  peculiar  to  him ;  had  not  experience  by  others  taught  me, 
that  there  is  that  power  in  the  human  mind,  supported  with  inno- 
cence and  co)iscia  virtits;  that  can  make  it  quite  shake  off  all  out- 
ward uneasinesses,  and  involve  itself  secure  and  pleas'd  in  its  own 
integrity  and  entertainment." 

Bcntloy  appears  to  have  fully  anticipated  the  strong 
prejudice  which  his  recension  of  Milton  would  liave  to 


180  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

meet.  Forty  years  ago,  he  says,  "  it  would  have  been 
prudence  to  have  suppress'd"  it,  "for  fear  of  injuring 
one's  rising  fortune."  But  now  seventy  years  admonish- 
ed him  to  pay  his  critical  debts,  regardless  of  worldly  loss 
or  gain.  "I  made  the  Notes  extempore,  and  put  them 
to  the  press  as  soon  as  made ;  without  any  apprehension 
of  growing  leaner  by  censures  or  plumper  by  commenda- 
tions."    So  ends  the  preface. 

Bentley's  work  on  Milton  is  of  a  kind  which  can  be 
fairly  estimated  by  a  few  specimens,  for  its  essential  char- 
acter is  the  same  throughout.  We  need  not  dwell  on 
those  "  inconsistencies  in  the  plan  and  system  of  the 
poem  "  which  Bentley  ascribes  to  Milton  himself.  Some 
of  these  are  real,  others  vanish  before  a  closer  examina- 
tion ;  but  none  of  those  which  really  exist  can  be  removed 
without  rewriting  the  passages  affected.  Bentley  admits 
this ;  and  to  criticise  his  changes  would  be  merely  to  com- 
pare the  respective  merits  of  Milton  and  Bentley  as  poets. 
Nor,  again,  need  we  concern  ourselves  with  those  alleged 
faults  of  the  amanuensis  in  spelling  and  pointing  which 
are  tacitly  corrected.  The  proper  test  of  Bentley's  work, 
as  a  critical  recension  of  Paradise  Lost,  is  his  treatment 
of  those  blemishes  which  be  imputes  to  the  supposed 
"  editor."  These  are  of  two  kinds — wilful  interpolations 
and  inadvertent  changes.  An  example  of  alleged  inter- 
polation is  afforded  by  the  following  passage  {Par.  Lost,  i. 
338-355),  where  the  fallen  angels  are  assembling  at  the 
summons  of  their  leader : 

"As  when  the  potent  rod 
Of  Amram's  son,  in  Egypt's  evil  day, 
"Waved  round  the  coast,  up-called  a  pitchy  cloud 
Of  locusts,  warping  on  the  eastern  wind, 
That  o'er  the  realm  of  impious  Pharaoh  hung 
Like  Night,  and  darkened  all  the  land  of  Nile ; 


XI.]  EDITIDX  OF  PARADISE  LOST.  181 

So  numberless  were  those  bad  Angels  seen 
Hovering  on  wing  under  the  cope  of  Hell, 
'Twixt  upper,  nether,  and  surrounding  fires  ; 
Till,  as  a  signal  given,  the  uplifted  spear 
Of  their  great  Sultan  waving  to  direct 
Their  course,  in  even  balance  down  they  light 
On  the  firm  brimstone,  and  fill  all  the  plain : 
A  multihtde  like  which  the  popxdoris  North 
Poured  never  from  her  frozen  loiiis  to  pass 
Rhene  or  the  Danaip,  ichen  lier  barbarous  sons 
Came  like  a  delude  on  the  South,  and  spread 
Beneath  Gibraltar  to  the  Libyan  sands.^^ 

The  last  five  lines  arc  rejected  by  Bentley  as  due  to  the 
fraudulent  editor.     Here  is  his  note  : 

"After  he  [Milton]  had  compared  the  Devils  for  number  to  the 
cloud  of  locusts  that  darkeu'd  all  Egypt,  as  before  to  the  leaves  that 
cover  the  ground  in  autumn  [v.  302,  'Thick  as  autumnal  leaves  that 
strew  the  brooks  In  Vallombrosa'J,  'tis  both  to  clog  and  to  lessen 
the  thought,  to  mention  here  the  Northern  Excursions,  when  all  hu- 
man race  would  be  too  few.  Besides  the  diction  is  faulty ;  frozen 
loins  arc  improper  for  popidousness  ;  Gibraltar  is  a  new  name,  since 
those  inroads  were  made ;  and  to  spread  from  thence  to  the  Libyan 
^ands,  is  to  spread  over  the  surface  of  the  sea." 

It  would  be  idle  to  multiply  instances  of  "interpola- 
tion:" this  is  a  fair  average  sample.  I  will  now  illustrate 
the  other  class  of  "editorial''  misdeeds — careless  altera- 
tions.    Book  VI.  509 : 

"  Up  they  turned 
Wide  the  celestial  soil,  and  saw  beneath 
The  originals  of  Nature  in  their  crude 
Conception  ;  sulphurous  and  nitrous  foam 
TJicy  found,  they  tningled,  and,  with  subtle  art 
Concocted  and  adusted,  they  reduced 
To  blackest  grain,  and  into  store  conveyed." 

Bentley  annotates  : 
9 


BENTLEY.  [chap. 

"  It  must  be  very  subtle  Art,  even  in  Devils  themselves,  to  adust 
brimstone  and  saltpetre.  But  then  he  mentions  only  these  two  ma- 
terials, which  without  charcoal  can  never  make  gunpowder." 

Here,  then,  is  tlie  last  part  of  the  passage,  rescued  from 
the  editor,  and  restored  to  Milton : 

"  Sulphurous  and  nitrous  foam 
TJiey  p(mnd,  they  mingle,  and  with  sooty  chark 
Concocted  and  adusted,  they  reduce 
To  blackest  grain,  and  into  store  convey.''^ 

Let  us  take  next  the  last  lines  of  the  poem  (xii.  641  f.) : 

"They,  looking  back,  all  the  eastern  side  beheld 
Of  Paradise,  so  late  their  happy  seat, 
Waved  over  by  that  flaming  brand  ;  tlie  gate 
With  dreadful  faces  thronged  and  fiery  arms. 
Some  natural  tears  they  dropped,  but  wiped  them  soon ; 
The  world  was  all  before  them,  where  to  choose 
Their  place  of  rest,  and  Providence  their  guide. 
They,  hand  in  hand,  with  wandering  steps  and  slow, 
Through  Eden,  took  tlieir  solitary  way?'' 

Addison  had  remarked  that  the  poem  would  close  bet- 
ter if  the  last  two  lines  were  absent.  Bentley — without 
naming  Addison,  to  whom  he  alludes  as  "an  ingenious  and 
celebrated  writer  " — deprecates  their  omission.  "  Without 
them  Adam  and  Eve  would  be  left  in  the  Territory  and 
Suburbane  of  Paradise,  in  the  very  view  of  the  dreadful 
facesy  At  the  same  time  Bentley  holds  that  the  two 
lines  have  been  gravely  corrupted  by  the  editor.  These 
are  his  grounds : 

"  Milton  tells  us  before,  that  Adam,  upon  hearing  Michael's  pre- 
dictions, was  even  surcharg'd  with  joy  (xii.  3Y2) ;  was  replete  with 
joy  and  wonder  (468) ;  was  in  doubt,  whether  he  should  repent  of, 
or  rejoice  in,  his  fall  (475);  was  in  great  peace  of  thought  (558) ;  and 
Eve  herself  was  not  sad,  but  full  of  consolation  (620).      Why  then 


XI.]  EDITION  OF  /'.lA'.l/v ASA' AO.sy.  183 

docs  this  distich  dismiss  our  first  parents  in  anj;uish,  and  the  reader 
in  melancholy?  And  how  can  the  exprcs.sion  be  justified,  'with  wan- 
d'ring  steps  and  slow?'  Why  wari'driiig?  Erratic  steps?  Very 
improper:  when  in  the  line  before,  they  were  guided  by  Providence. 
And  why  slow?  when  even  Eve  profess'd  her  readiness  and  alacrity 
for  the  journey  (014):  ^But  now  lead  on  ;  In  me  is  no  dclai/.^  And 
why  'their  solitary  way?'  All  words  to  represent  a  sorrowful  part- 
ing? when  even  their  former  walks  in  Paradise  were  as  solitary  as 
their  way  now  :  there  being  nobody  besides  them  two,  both  here  and 
there.  Shall  I  therefore,  after  so  many  prior  presumptions,  presume 
at  last  to  offer  a  distich,  as  close  as  may  be  to  the  author's  words, 
aikl  entirely  agreeable  to  his  scheme  ? 

'  Tlicn  hand  in  hand  with  social  sfqjs  their  way 
Through  Eden  took,  w'lth  hcav'nfi/  comfort  checr'd.''  " 

Tlic  total  miinlxT  of  cnicnclations  proposed  by  Bcntley 
in  Piiradise  Lost  ratlior  pxceeds  800.  Not  a  word  of  the 
received  text  is  altered  in  his  edition ;  but  the  parts  be- 
lieved to  be  corrupt  arc  printed  in  italics,  with  the  pro- 
posed remedy  in  the  margin.  Most  of  the  new  readings 
aim  at  stricter  propriety  in  the  use  of  language,  better 
logic,  or  clearer  syntax — briefly,  at  "  correctness."  It  is  a 
significant  fact  that  Pope  liked  many  of  them,  and  wrote 
"^>i</fA?-e,"  "6(?«e,"  "rec^e"  opposite  them  in  his  copy  of 
Bentley's  edition — in  spite  of  that  line  in  the  Dunciad 
which  describes  our  critic  as  "having  humbled  Milton's 
strains."  But  even  where  wc  concede  that  the  new  read- 
ing is  what  Milton  ought  to  have  given,  wc  can  nearly  al- 
ways feel  morally  certain  that  he  did  not  give  it.  I  have 
found  only  one  instance  which  strikes  me  as  an  exception. 
It  is  in  that  passage  of  Book  vi.  (332)  which  describes 
Satan  wounded  by  the  sword  of  the  archangel  Michael : 

*'  From  the  gash 
A  stream  of  nectarous  humour  issuing  flowed 
Sanguine,  such  as  celestial  Spirits  may  bleed." 


BENTLEY.  [chap. 

"Nectar"  is  the  "svine  of  the  gods;  Homer  has  another 
name  for  the  ctheriai  juice  whicli  flows  in  their  veins. 
Thus  when  Diomedes  wounds  the  goddess  Aphrodite: 
"  The  immortal  blood  of  the  goddess  flowed  forth,  even 
ichor,  such  as  flows  in  the  veins  of  blessed  gods  (Iliad,  v. 
389).  For  "  nectarous  "  Bentlcy  proposed  "  ichorous." 
The  form  of  Milton's  verse — "  such  as  celestial  Spirits 
may  bleed" — indicates  that  he  was  thinking  of  the  Iliad, 
and  no  poet  was  less  likely  than  Milton  to  confuse  "  nec- 
tar" with  "ichor."  Bentley's  correction,  if  not  true,  de- 
serves to  be  so. 

Johnson  has  characterised  Bentley's  hypothesis  of  the 
"editor"  in  well-known  terms — "a  supposition  I'ash  and 
groundless,  if  he  thought  it  true ;  and  vile  and  pernicious, 
if,  as  is  said,  he  in  private  allowed  it  to  be  false."  Bent- 
ley  cannot  be  impaled  on  the  second  horn  of  the  dilemma. 
No  one  who  has  read  his  preface,  or,  who  understands  the 
bent  of  his  mind,  will  entertain  the  idea  that  he  wished 
to  impose  on  his  readers  by  a  fiction  which  he  himself  did 
not  believe.  Monk  has  another  explanation.  "  The  ideal 
agency  of  the  reviser  of  Paradise  Lost  was  only  a  device 
to  take  off  the  odium  of  perpetually  condemning  and  al- 
tering the  words  of  the  great  poet.  ...  At  the  same  time, 
he  tvas  neither  deceived  himself  nor  intended  to  deceive 
others."  But  Monk  has  not  observed  that  a  passage  in 
Bentley's  preface  expressly  excludes  this  plausible  view. 
"  If  any  one "  (says  Bentley)  "  fancy  this  Persona  of  an 
editor  to  be  a  mere  Fantom,  a  Fiction,  an  Artifice  to  skreen 
Milton  himself;  let  him  consider  these  four  and  sole  changes 
made  in  the  second  edition:  i.  505,  v.  638,  xi.  485,  551. 
...  If  the  E-iitor  durst  insert  his  forgeries,  even  in  the 
second  edition,  when  the  Poem  and  its  Author  had  slowly 
grown  to  a  vast  reputation ;  Avhat  durst  he  not  do  in  the 


XI.]  TA)n\OS  OF  PAR^IDISE  LOST.  18.', 

first,  under  the  poet's  poverty,  iiifainy,  and  an  universal 
odiiun  from  tlic  royal  and  triunipliant  party  f  The  J'ar- 
adine  Regained  and  the  Samson  Af/onistcs  arc  iincor- 
ruptcd,  Bentley  adds,  because  Milton  had  then  dismissed 
this  editor. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  I  think,  that  Bcntley's  theory 
of  the  depraved  editor  was  broached  in  perfect  good  faith. 
IVue,  he  supposes  this  editor  to  have  taken  fewer  liberties 
with  Book  XII. — an  assumption  which  suited  his  desire  to 
publish  before  Parlianicnt  met.  But  that  is  only  an  in- 
stance of  a  man  bringing  himself  to  believe  just  what  lie 
wishes  to  believe.  How  he  could  believe  it,  is  another 
question.  If  lie  had  consulted  the  Life  of  Milton  by  the 
poet's  nephew,  Edward  Phillips  (1694),  he  would  have 
found  some  adverse  testimony.  Paradise  Lost  was  origi- 
nally written  down  in  small  groups  of  some  ten  to  thirty 
verses  by  any  hand  that  happened  to  be  near  Milton  at 
the  time.  But,  when  it  was  complete,  Phillips  helped  his 
uncle  in  carefully  revising  it,  with  minute  attention  to 
those  matters  of  spelling  and  pointing  in  which  the  aman- 
uensis might  have  failed.  The  first  edition  (1667),  so  far 
from  being  "  miserably  deformed  by  the  press,"  was  re- 
markably accurate.  As  Mr.  Masson  says,  "  very  great  care 
must  have  been  bestowed  on  the  revising  of  the  proofs, 
cither  by  Milton  himself,  or  by  some  competent  person 
who  had  undertaken  to  see  the  book  through  the  press 
for  him.  It  seems  likely  that  Milton  himself  caused  page 
after  page  to  be  read  over  slowly  to  him,  and  occasionally 
even  the  words  to  be  spelt  out."  Bentley  insists  that  the 
changes  in  the  second  edition  of  1674  were  due  to  the 
editor.  Phillips  says  of  this  second  edition  :  "  amended, 
enlarg'd,  and  differently  dispos'd  as  to  the  number  of 
books"  [xii.  instead  of  x.,  books  vii.  and  x.  being  now 


186  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

divided]  "by  his  own  hand,  tliat  is  by  his  own  appoint- 
ment." But  the  habit  of  mind  -which  Bentley  had  formed 
by  free  conjectural  criticism  was  such  as  to  pass  lightly 
over  any  such  difficulties,  even  if  he  had  clearly  realised 
them.  He  felt  confident  in  his  own  power  of  improving 
Milton's  text ;  and  he  was  eager  to  exercise  it.  The  fact 
of  Milton's  blindness  suggested  a  view  of  the  text  which 
he  adopted  ;  not,  assuredly,  without  believing  it ;  but  witli 
a  belief  rendered  more  easy  by  his  wish. 

Bentley's  Paradise  Lost  raises  an  obvious  question. 
AVe  know  that  his  emendations  of  Milton  are  nearly  all 
bad.  The  general  style  of  argument  which  he  applies  to 
Milton  is  the  same  which  he  applies  to  the  classical  au- 
thors. Are  his  emendations  of  these  also  bad  ?  I  should 
answer :  Many  of  his  critical  emendations,  especially  Lat- 
in, are  bad ;  but  many  of  them  are  good  in  a  way  and  in 
a  degree  for  wliich  Paradise  Lost  afforded  no  scope.  It 
is  a  rule  applicable  to  most  of  Bentley's  corrections,  that 
their  merit  varies  inversely  with  the  soundness  of  the  text. 
Where  the  text  seemed  altogether  hopeless,  he  was  at  his 
best;  where  it  was  corrupted,  but  not  deeply,  he  was  usu- 
ally good,  though  often  not  convincing  ;  where  it  was  true, 
yet  difficult,  through  some  trick  (faulty  in  itself,  perhaps) 
of  individual  thought  or  style,  he  was  apt  to  meddle  over- 
much. It  was  his  forte  to  make  rough  places  smooth ;  his 
foible,  to  make  smooth  places  rough.  If  Paradise  Lost 
had  come  to  Bentley  as  a  manuscript,  largely  defaced  by 
grave  blunders  and  deeply-seated  corruptions,  his  restora- 
tion of  it  would  probably  have  deserved  applause.  The 
fact  that  his  edition  was  regarded  as  a  proof  of  dotage, 
shows  liow  erroneously  his  contemporaries  had  conceived 
the  qualities  of  his  previous  work.  Bentley's  mind  was 
logical,  positive,  acute ;  wonderfully  acute,  where  intellect- 


XI. ]  KDITIUN   OK  I'ARAhlSE  LOST.  IK? 

n;il  problems  were  not  complicated  with  moral  sympathies. 
Setiiliiiif  llaslics  of  piercing  insight  over  a  wide  and  then 
dim  field,  lie  made  discoveries;  among  other  things,  he 
found  probable  or  certain  answers  to  many  verbal  riddles. 
His  "faculty  of  divination"  was  to  himself  a  special  source 
of  joy  and  pride;  nor  unnaturally,  when  we  recall  its  most 
iuilliant  feats.  ]]ut  verbal  emendation  was  otdy  one  phase 
of  his  work;  and,  just  because  it  was  with  him  a  mental 
indulgence,  almost  a  passion,  \vc  must  guard  against  as- 
suming that  the  avenif/e  success  with  wliieh  he  applied  it 
is  the  chief  criterion  of  his  power. 

The  faults  of  Bentlcy's  Paradise  Lost  are,  in  kind,  the 
faults  of  his  Horace,  but  arc  more  evident  to  an  English 
reader,  and  arc  worse  in  degree,  since  the  English  text, 
unlike  the  Latin,  affords  no  real  ground  for  suspicion. 
The  intellectual  acuteness  which  marks  the  Horace  is  pres- 
ent also  in  the  notes  on  Paradise  Lost,  but  seldom  wins  ad- 
miration, more  often  appears  ridiculous,  because  the  Eng- 
lish reader  can  usually  see  that  it  is  grotesquely  misplaced, 
A  great  and  characteristic  merit  of  Ecntley's  classical  work, 
its  instructivcncss  to  students  of  a  foreign  language  and 
literature,  is  necessarily  absent  here.  And  the  book  was 
got  ready  for  the  press  with  extreme  haste.  Still,  the  edi- 
tor of  Paradise  Lost  is  not  the  Horatian  editor  gone  mad. 
He  is  merely  the  noratian  editor  showing  increased  rash- 
ness in  a  still  more  unfavourable  field,  where  failure  was  at 
once  so  gratuitous  and  so  conspicuous  as  to  look  like  self- 
caricature,  whilst  there  was  no  proper  scope  for  the  dis- 
tinctive qualities  of  his  genius.  As  to  poetical  taste,  wc 
may  at  least  make  some  allowance  for  the  standards  of  the 
"correct"  period:  let  us  think  of  Johnson's  remarks  on 
Milton's  versification,  and  remember  that  some  of  Bcntley's 
improvements  on  Milton  were  privately  admired  by  Pope. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

DOMESTIC    LIFE. LAST    YEARS. 

At  the  age  of  tbirty-eiglit,  when  explaining  his  delay  to 
answer  Charles  Boyle,  Bentley  spoke  of  his  own  "  natural 
aversion  to  all  quarrels  and  broils."  This  has  often,  per- 
haps, been  read  with  a  smile  by  those  who  thought  of  his 
later  feuds.  I  believe  that  it  was  quite  true.  Bentley  was 
a  born  student.  He  was  not,  by  innate  impulse,  a  writer, 
still  less  an  aspirant  to  prizes  of  the  kind  for  which  men 
chiefly  wrangle.  But  his  self-confidence  had  been  exalted 
by  the  number  of  instances  in  which  he  had  been  able  to 
explode  fallacies,  or  to  detect  errors  which  had  escaped  the 
greatest  of  previous  scholars.  He  became  a  dogmatic  be- 
liever in  the  truth  of  his  own  instinctive  perceptions.  At 
last,  opposition  to  his  decrees  struck  him  as  a  proof  of 
deficient  capacity,  or  else  of  moral  obliquity.  This  habit 
of  mind  insensibly  extended  itself  from  verbal  criticism 
into  other  fields  of  judgment.  He  grew  less  and  less  fit  to 
deal  with  men  on  a  basis  of  equal  rights,  because  he  too 
often  carried  into  official  or  social  intercourse  the  temper 
formed  in  his  library  by  intellectual  despotism  over  the 
blunders  of  the  absent  or  the  dead.  He  was  rather  too 
apt  to  treat  those  who  differed  from  him  as  if  they  were 
various  readings  that  had  cropped  up  from  "scrub  manu- 
scripts," or  "  scoundrel  copies,"  as  he  has  it  in  his  reply  to 


ciiAi-.xii]  DOMESTIC  LIFE.— LAST  YEARS.  ISO 

Muldleton.  lie  liked  to  efface  such  persons  as  lie  would 
c.\[>ui)t^c  false  concords,  or  to  correct  tli'^in  as  he  would 
remedy  ilai^rant  instances  of  hiatus.  This  was  what  made 
him  so  specially  unfit  for  the  peaceable  administration  of 
a  College.  It  was  hard  for  him  to  he  primus  inter  jxires — 
first  among  peers,  but  harder  still  to  be  2^ritnus  intra  pa- 
rietes — to  live  within  the  same  walls  with  those  peers.  The 
frequent  personal  association  which  the  circumstances  of 
his  office  involved  was  precisely  calculated  to  show  him 
constantly  on  his  worst  side.  lie  would  probably  have 
made  a  better  bishop — though  not,  perhaps,  a  very  good 
one — just  because  his  contact  would  have  been  less  close 
and  continual  with  those  over  whom  he  was  placed. 
Bentley  had  many  of  the  qualities  of  a  beneficent  ruler, 
but  hardly  of  a  constitutional  ruler.  If  he  had  been  the 
sole  heir  of  Pcisistratus,  he  would  have  bestowed  the  best 
gifts  of  paternal  government  on  those  Athenian  black- 
smiths to  whom  he  compared  Joshua  Barnes,  and  no 
swords  would  have  been  wreathed  with  myrtle  in  honour 
of  a  tyrannicide. 

This  warm-hearted,  imperious  man,  with  affections  the 
stronger  because  they  were  not  diffuse,  was  seen  to  the 
greatest  advantage  in  family  life,  cither  because  bis  mon- 
archy Avas  undisputed,  or  because  there  he  could  reign 
without  governing.  His  happy  marriage  brought  him  four 
children — Elizabeth  and  Joanna — a  son,  "William,  who  died 
in  earliest  infancy — and  Richard,  the  youngest,  born  in 
1708,  who  grew  to  be  an  accomplished  but  eccentric  and 
rather  aimless  man  ;  enough  of  a  dilettante  to  win  the 
good  graces  of  Horace  Walpole,  and  too  little  of  a  depend- 
ent to  keep  them. 

It  is  pleasant  to  turn  from  the  College  feuds,  and  to 
think  that  within  its  precincts  there  was  at  least  such  a 
0* 


BENTLEY.  [chap. 

refuge  from  strife  as  the  home  in  which  these  chiklren 
grew  up.  The  habits  of  the  Bentley  lioiisehold  were  sim- 
ple, and  such  as  adapted  themselves  to  the  life  of  an  inde- 
fatigable student.  Bentley  usually  breakfasted  alone  in 
his  library,  and,  at  least  in  later  years,  was  often  not  visible 
till  dinner.  When  the  Spectator  was  coming  out,  he  took 
great  delight  in  hearing  the  children  read  it  aloud  to  him, 
and — as  Joanna  told  her  son — "  was  so  particularly  amused 
by  the  character  of  Sir  Roger  de  Coverley,  that  lie  took 
his  literary  decease  most  seriously  to  hcai't."  After  even- 
ing prayers  at  ten,  the  family  retired,  while  Bentley,  "hab- 
ited in  his  dressing-gown,"  returned  to  his  books.  In 
1708  his  eyes  suffered  for  a  short  time  from  reading  at 
night;  but  he  kept  up  the  habit  long  afterwards.  The 
celebrated  "Proposals  for  Printing"  the  Greek  Testament 
were  drawn  up  by  candle-light  in  a  single  evening.  Lat- 
terly, he  had  a  few  intimate  friends  at  Cambridge — some 
five  or  six  Fellows  of  the  College,  foremost  among  whom 
was  Richard  Walker — and  three  or  four  other  members  of 
the  University ;  just  as  in  London  his  intercourse  was 
chiefly  with  a  very  small  and  select  group — Newton,  Dr. 
Samuel  Clarke,  Dr.  Mead,  and  a  few  more.  "  His  estab- 
lishment," says  his  grandson,  "  was  respectable,  and  his 
table  afiluently  and  hospitably  served."  "  Of  his  pecun- 
iary affairs  he  took  no  account;  he  had  no  use  for  money, 
and  dismissed  it  entirely  from  his  thoughts.".  Mrs.  Bent- 
ley managed  everything.  Can  this  be  the  Bentley,  it  will 
be  asked,  who  built  the  staircase  and  the  hen-house,  and 
who  practised  extortion  on  the  Doctors  of  Divinity?  The 
fact  seems  to  be,  as  Cumberland  puts  it,  that  Bentley  had 
no  love  of  money  for  its  own  sake.  Many  instances  of  his 
liberality  are  on  record,  especially  to  poor  students,  or  in 
literary  matters.     But  he  had  a  strong  feeling  for  the  dig- 


XII.]  DOMESTIC  LIFi:.— LAST  VKAIiS.  I'Jl 

nity  of  his  station,  and  a  frank  conviction  that  the  College 
oui^ht  to  lionour  itself  by  seeing  that  his  surroundings 
were  appropriate;  and  he  had  also  a  Yorlcshirciiuin's  share 
of  the  British  dislike  to  being  cheated.  Bcntley's  total 
income  was,  for  his  position,  but  moderate,  and  his  testa- 
mentaiy  provision  for  his  family  was  sufficiently  slender 
to  exempt  him  from  the  charge  of  penurious  hoarding. 

At  one  time  Mrs.  Bentlcy  and  the  children  used  to  make 
an  annual  journey  to  London,  where  the  Master  of  Trinity, 
as  Royal  librarian,  had  official  lodgings  at  Cotton  House. 
Then  there  was  an  occasional  visit  to  the  Bernards  in 
Huntingdonshire,  or  to  Hampshire,  after  J)lizabetb,  the 
eldest  daughter,  had  married  Mr.  Humpluvy  Ridge  of 
that  county ;  and  this  was  as  much  variety  as  the  wisdom 
of  our  ancestors  desired.  At  Cambridge  Bcntley  took 
scarcely  any  exercise,  except  in  pacing  up  and  down  a 
terrace-walk  by  the  river,  which  was  made  when  the  Mas- 
ter's garden  was  laid  out  in  1717.  We  hear,  however,  of 
bis  joining  a  fishing  expedition  to  Over,  a  place  about  six 
miles  from  Cambridge,  though  some  may  doubt  whether 
Bcntley  had  the  right  temperament  for  that  pursuit. 
After  middle  age  he  was  peculiarly  liable  to  severe  colds 
— a  result  of  sedentary  life — and  was  obliged  to  avoid 
draughts  as  much  as  possible.  From  1727  he  ceased  to 
preside  in  the  College  Hall  at  festivals;  and  at  about  the 
same  time  he  nominated  a  deputy  at  the  "  acts "  in  the 
Divinity  School.  In  1729  it  was  complained  that  for 
many  years  he  had  discontinued  Ihs  attciulancc  in  the 
College  Chapel.  One  incident  has  good  ovidonce.  On 
an  evening  in  1724,  just  after  his  degrees  had  been  re- 
stored, he  went  to  the  Chapel ;  the  door-lock  of  the  Mas- 
ter's stall  was  so  rusty  that  he  could  not  open  it.  Here 
are  some  contemporary  verses  preserved  by  Granger : 


192  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

"  The  vh'ger  tugs  with  fruitless  pains  ; 
The  rust  invincible  remains. 
Who  can  describe  his  woful  plight, 
Plac'd  thus  in  view,  in  fullest  light, 
A  spectacle  of  mirth,  expos'd 
To  sneering  friends  and  giggling  foes  ? 
Then  first,  as  'tis  from  fame  rcceiv'd 
(But  fame  can't  alwa3's  be  believ'd), 
A  blush,  the  sign  of  new-born  grace, 
Gleam'd  through  the  horrors  of  his  face. 
He  held  it  shameful  to  retreat. 
And  worse  to  take  the  lower  seat. 
The  virger  soon,  with  nimble  bound, 
At  once  vaults  o'er  the  wooden  mound, 
And  gives  the  door  a  furious  knock, 
Which  forc'd  the  disobedient  lock." 

After  1734  he  practically  ceased  to  attend  the  meetings 
of  the  Seniority :  the  last  occasion  on  which  he  presided 
was  Nov,  8,  1737.  His  inability  or  reluctance  to  leave  his 
house  is  shown  in  1739  by  a  curious  fact.  A  Fellow  of 
a  College  had  been  convicted  of  atheistical  views  by  a 
private  letter  which  another  member  of  the  same  society 
had  picked  up  in  the  quadrangle — and  read.  The  meeting 
of  the  Vice-chancellor's  Court  at  which  sentence  was  to 
be  passed  was  held  at  Trinity  Lodge.  Dr.  Monk  regards 
this  as  a  "  compliment  to  the  father  of  the  University," 
but  there  was  also  a  simpler  motive.  Only  eight  Heads 
of  Houses  had  attended  in  the  Schools ;  nine  were  re- 
quired for  a  verdict ;  and,  feeling  the  improbability  of 
Bentley  coming  to  them,  they  went  to  Bentley.  On  see- 
ing the  accused — a  puny  person — the  Master  of  Trinity 
observed,  "  What !  is  that  the  atheist  ?  I  expected  to 
have  seen  a  man  as  big  as  Burrough  the  beadle !"  Sen- 
tence was  passed — expulsion  from  the  University. 

It  seems  to  have  been  soon   after  this,  in  1739,  that 


xii.]  DOMEi^TK'  LIFK.— LAST  VKAIIS.  VXi 

Bcntloy  liad  h  jiaralytic  stroke — not  a  severe  one,  liow- 
cvcr.  lie  was  thenceforth  unable  to  move  easily  witlioiit 
assistance,  but  we  have  his  grandson's  authority  for  sayini;; 
that  Bentlcy  "  to  the  hist  hour  of  his  life  possessed  his 
faculties  firm  and  in  their  fullest  vigour."  lie  called  him- 
self— Markland  says — "  an  old  trunk,  which,  if  you  let  it 
alone,  will  last  a  long  time;  but  if  you  jumble  it  by  mov- 
ing, will  soon  fall  to  pieces." 

Joanna  Bentley,  the  second  daughter,  was  her  father's 
favourite  child — "Jug"  was  his  pet-name  for  her — and 
she  seems  to  have  inherited  much  of  his  vivacity,  with 
rather  more  of  his  turn  for  humorous  satire  than  was  at 
that  period  thought  quite  decorous  in  the  gentle  sex. 
Her  son  seems  inclined  to  apologise  for  it;  and  Dr. 
Monk,  too,  faintly  hints  his  regret.  At  the  age  of  eleven 
she  was  the  "Pha-bc"  of  a  Pastoral  in  the  Spectator — 
the  "Colin"  being  John  Byrom,  B.A.,  of  Trinity;  and, 
after  causing  several  members  of  the  College  to  sigh,  and 
a  few  to  sing,  Joanna  was  married,  in  1728,  to  Denison 
Cumberland,  of  Trinity — a  grandson  of  the  distinguished 
Bishop  of  Peterborough.  Their  son,  Richard  Cumberland, 
was  a  versatile  autlior.  Besides  novels,  comedies,  and  an 
epic  poem,  he  wrote  the  once  popular  Observer,  and  An- 
ecdotes of  Spanish  Painters.  Goldsmith  called  him  "the 
Terence  of  England;"  Walter  Scott  commented  on  his 
tendency  "  to  reverse  the  natural  and  useful  practice  of 
courtship,  and  to  throw  upon  the  softer  sex  the  task  of 
wooing;"  but  Cumberland's  name  has  no  record  more 
pleasing  than  those  Memoirs  to  which  we  chiefly  owe  our 
knowledge  of  Bcntley's  old  age. 

It  was  early  in  1740  that  death  parted  the  old  man 
from  the  companion  who  had  shared  so  many  years  of 
storm  or  sunshine  beyond  the  doors,  but  always  of  happi- 


194  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

noss  -witliin  tliem.  Richard  Cumberland  was  eight  years 
old  when  Mr.s.  Bentley  died.  "I  have  a  perfect  recollec- 
tion of  the  person  of  my  grandmother,  and  a  full  impres- 
sion of  her  manners  and  habits,  which,  though  in  some 
degree  tinctured  with  hereditary  reserve  and  the  primi- 
tive cast  of  character,  were  entirely  free  from  the  hyp- 
ocritical cant  and  affected  sanctity  of  the  Oliverians." 
(Her  family,  the  Bernards,  were  related  to  the  Cromwells.) 
A  most  favourable  impression  is  given  by  a  letter — one  of 
those  printed  by  Dr.  Luard  at  the  end  of  Rud's  Diary — 
in  which  she  discusses  the  prospect  (in  1732)  of  the  Col- 
lege case  being  decided  against  Bentley.  Her  life  had 
been  gentle,  kindly,  and  unselfish  ;  lier  last  words,  which 
her  daughter  Joanna  heard,  were — "  It  is  all  bright,  it  is 
all  glorious."  Dreary  indeed  must  have  been  Bentley's 
solitude  now,  but  for  his  daughters.  Elizabeth  had  re- 
turned to  her  father's  house  after  the  death  of  her  hus- 
band, Mr.  Ridge;  and  henceforth  Mrs.  Cumberland  was 
much  at  Trinity  Lodge,  with  her  two  children — Richard, 
and  a  girl  somewhat  older.  And  now  we  get  the  best 
possible  testimony  to  the  lovable  elements  in  Bentley's 
nature — the  testimony  of  children.  "  He  was  the  un- 
wearied patron  and  pi'omoter  of  all  our  childish  sports.  .  .  . 
I  have  broken  in  upon  him  many  a  time"  (says  Cumber- 
land) "in  his  hours  of  study,  when  he  would  put  his  book 
aside,  ring  his  hand-bell  for  his  servant,  and  be  led  to  his 
shelves  to  take  down  a  picture-book  for  my  amusement.  I 
do  not  say  that  his  good-nature  always  gained  its  object, 
as  the  pictures  which  his  books  generally  supplied  me 
with  were  anatomical  drawings  of  dissected  bodies,  .  .  . 
but  he  had  nothing  better  to  produce."  "  Once,  and  only 
once,  I  recollect  his  giving  rae  a  gentle  rebuke  for  making 
a  most  outrageous  noise  in  the  room  over  his  library,  and 


XII.]  DOMESTIC  LIFE.— LAST  VEAIK  196 

distiiibin!:j  liiin  in  liis  studies;  I  Iiad  ii<>  approlionsion  of 
aiiy;(.'r  fiuiii  liiiii,  .-iinl  coiitilciitly  aiiswuivd  tliat  I  c<nild 
Hot  Ik'1|)  it,  as  1  liail  I)(h'Ii  at  l)attk'duiv  ami  .siitittlccock 
willi  Ma.stur  (ioDcli,  the  Bisliuj)  of  Ely'.s  son."  (Tiiis  was 
tlie  Dr.  (iooeli  wlio,  as  Vice-chancelior,  had  suspt-nilcd 
Buntlcy's  di'mees.)  "And  I  have  been  at  tliis  sport  with 
his  father,"  he  replied;  "but  thine  has  been  the  more 
aniusiii!^  game ;  so  there's  no  harm  ch^ne."  Tiie  boy's 
holidiiys  from  his  schotd  at  JJury  St.  Edmund's  wore  now 
often  spent  at  Trinity  Lodge,  and  in  the  bright  memories 
wliich  they  left  with  him  his  grandfather  was  the  centra! 
tigure.  "  I  was  admitted  to  dine  at  las  table,  had  my  seat 
next  to  his  chair,  served  him  in  many  little  offices."  Bent- 
ley  saw  what  pleasure  these  gave  the  boy,  and  invented 
occasions  to  employ  him. 

lientley's  "ordinary  style  of  conversation  was  naturally 
lofty" — his  grandson  says.  He  also  used  thou  and  thee 
more  than  was  usually  considered  polite,  and  this  gave  his 
talk  a  somewhat  dictatorial  tone.  "But  the  native  can- 
dour and  inherent  tenderness  of  his  heart  cou.ld  not  hjng 
be  veiled  from  observation,  for  his  feelings  and  affections 
were  at  once  too  impulsive  to  be  long  repressed,  and  lie 
too  careless  of  concealment  to  attempt  at  qualifying 
them."  Instances  of  his  good-nature  are  quoted  which 
are  highly  characteristic  in  other  ways  too.  At  that  time 
the  Master  and  Seniors  examined  candidates  for  Fellow- 
ships orally  as  well  as  on  paper.  If  Bcntley  saw  that  a 
candidate  was  nervous,  he  "  was  never  known  to  press 
him,"  says  Cumberland;  rather  he  "would  take  all  the 
pains  of  expounding  on  himself" — and  credit  the  embar- 
rassed youth  with  the  answer.  Once  a  burglar  who  had 
stolen  some  of  Bentley's  plate  was  caught  "  with  the  very 
articles  upon  him,"  and  "Commissary  Greaves"  was  for 


19G  BENTLEV.  [ciup. 

sending  him  to  gaol.  Bentley  interposed.  "  Why  tell 
the  man  he  is  a  thief?  He  knows  that  well  enough,  with- 
out thy  information,  Greaves.  —  Hark  ye,  fellow,  thou 
see'st  the  trade  whicli  thou  hast  taken  up  is  an  unprofita-' 
ble  trade  ;  therefore  get  thee  gone,  lay  aside  an  occupa- 
tion by  which  thou  can'st  gain  nothing  but  a  halter,  and 
follow  that  by  which  thou  may'st  earn  an  honest  liveli- 
liood."  Everybody  remonstrated,  but  the  burglar  was  set 
at  large.  This  was  a  thoroughly  Bentleian  way  of  show- 
ing how  the  quality  of  mercy  can  bless  him  that  gives  and 
him  that  takes.  He  never  bestowed  a  thought  on  the 
principle ;  he  Avas  preoccupied  by  his  own  acute  and  con- 
fident perception  that  this  man  would  not  steal  again  ; 
and  he  disposed  of  Commissary  Greaves  as  if  he  had 
been  a  mere  gloss,  a  redundant  phrase  due  to  interpola- 
tion. 

Next  to  the  Vice -master,  Dr.  Walker  —  to  whom  in 
1739  the  duties  of  Master  were  virtually  transferred — 
Bentley's  most  frequent  visitors  were  a  few  scholars — such 
as  Jeremiah  Markland,  an  ingenious  critic,  with  a  real  feel- 
ing for  language ;  Walter  Taylor,  the  Eegius  Professor  of 
Greek ;  John  Taylor,  the  well-known  editor  of  Lysias  and 
Demosthenes;  and  the  two  nephews,  Thomas  and  Richard 
Bentley.  At  seventy,  he  learned  to  smoke  ;  and  he  is  be- 
lieved to  have  liked  port,  but  to  have  said  of  claret  that 
"  it  would  be  port  if  it  could."  He  would  sometimes 
speak  of  his  early  labours  and  aims,  but  the  literary  sub- 
ject uppermost  in  his  mind  seems  to  have  been  his  Ho- 
mer. One  evening,  when  Richard  Cumberland  was  at  the 
Lodge  in  his  holidays,  his  school-master,  Arthur  Kinsman, 
called  with  Dr.  Walker.  Kinsman  "  began  to  open  his 
school-books  upon  Bentley,  and  had  drawn  him  into  Ho- 
mer; Greek  now  rolled  in  torrents  from  the  lips  of  Bent- 


XII.]  DOMESTIC  LIFK— LAST  VEAKS.  197 

ley,  ...  in  a  strain  delectable,  indeed,  to  the  car,  but  not 
very  edifying  to  poor  little  me  and  the  ladies." 

In  March,  1742 — about  four  months  before  Bcntlcy's 
death — the  fourth  book  of  the  Dunciad  came  out,  with 
Pope's  highly-wrought  but  curiously  empty  satire  on  the 
greatest  scholar  then  living  in  Englainl  or  in  Europe. 
r>entlcy  heads  an  aciidcmic  throng  who  offer  homage  at 
the  throne  of  Dulness: 

"Before  them  march'd  that  awful  Aristarcli, 
Plow'd  was  his  front  witli  many  a  deep  remark : 
His  hat,  whieli  never  vail'd  to  human  pride, 
Walker  with  rev'renee  took,  and  laid  aside." 

Then  Bentley  introduces  himself  to  the  goddess  as 

"Tliy  mighty  scholiast,  whose  unwearied  pains 
Made  Horace  dull,  and  humbled  Milton's  strains." 

The  final  touch  —  "Walker,  o>ir  hat  I  —  nor  more  he 
deign'd  to  say  " — was  taken  from  a  story  current  then. 
Philip  Miller,  the  botanist,  had  called  on  Bentley  at  Trini- 
ty Lodge,  and  after  dinner  plied  him  with  classical  ques- 
tions, until  Bentley,  having  exhausted  such  mild  hints  as 
"  Drink  your  wine,  sir  I"  exclaimed,  "  Walker  I  my  hat " — 
and  left  the  room.  Cumberland  remembers  the  large, 
broad-brimmed  hat  hanging  on  a  peg  at  the  back  of  Bent- 
ley's  arm-chair,  who  sometimes  wore  it  in  his  study  to 
shade  his  eyes;  and  after  his  death  it  could  be  seen  in 
the  College-rooms  of  the  friend  with  whose  name  Pope 
has  linked  it. 

Pope  had  opened  fire  on  Bentley  long  before  this.  The 
first  edition  of  the  Dunciad  (1728)  liad  the  line — "Bent- 
leij  his  mouth  with  classic  flatt'ry  opes" — but  in  the  edi- 
tion of  1729  "Bentley"  was  changed  to  Welsied ;  and 
when — after  Bentley's  death — his  name  was  once  more 


198  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

placed  there,  it  was  explained  as  referring  to  Thomas  Bent- 
ley,  the  nephew.  Then,  in  the  "  Epistle  to  Arbuthnot " 
(1735),  Pope  coupled  Bentley  with  the  Shakspearian  critic 
Theobald— "Tibbalds"  rhyming  to  "ribalds;"  and  in  the 
Epistle  iuiitating  that  of  Horace  to  Augustus  (1737),  after 
criticising  Milton,  adds: 

"  Not  that  I'd  lop  the  beauties  from  his  book, 
Like  slashing  Bentley  with  his  desp'rate  hook." 

Some  indignant  protest  from  Thomas  Bentley  seems  to 
have  roused  Pope's  ire  to  the  more  elaborate  attack  in  the 
fourth  book  of  the  Dunciad.  Why  did  Pope  dislike  Bent- 
ley ?  "  I  talked  against  his  Homer  " — this  was  Bentley's 
own  account  of  it — "  and  the  portentous  cub  never  for- 
gives." It  is  more  likely  that  some  remarks  had  been  re- 
peated to  Pope,  than  that  Bentley  should  have  said  to  the 
poet  at  Bishop  Atterbury's  table,  "  A  pretty  poem,  Mr. 
Pope,  but  you  must  not  call  it  Homer."  This  was  gossip 
dramatising  the  cause  of  the  grudge.  Then  Pope's  friend- 
ship with  Atterbury  and  Swift  would  lead  him  to  take  the 
Boyle  view  of  the  Phalaris  affair.  And  Warburton,  Pope's 
chief  ally  of  the  Dunciad  period,  felt  towards  Bentley  that 
peculiar  form  of  jealous  antipathy  Avith  which  an  inac- 
curate writer  on  scholarly  subjects  will  sometimes  regard 
scholars.  'After  Bentley's  death,  Warburton  spoke  of  him 
as  "a  truly  great  and  injured  man,"  &c. ;  before  it,  he  in- 
variably, though  timidly,  disparaged  him.  Swift  never  as- 
sailed Bentley  after  the  Tale  of  a  Tub.  But  Arbuthnot, 
another  member  of  the  Scriblerus  Club,  parodied  Bentley's 
Horace  and  Phasdrus  in  the  Miscellanies  of  1727;  and 
published  a  supplement  to  Gulliver's  Travels,  describing. 
"  The  State  of  Learning  in  the  Empire  of  Lilliput."  "  Bul- 
lum  is  a  tall,  raw-boned  man,  I  believe  near  six  inches  and 


HI.]  DOMESTIC  LIFE.— LAST  YEARS.  I'J'J 

a  half  high  ;  from  his  infancy  he  applied  himself  with 
great  industry  to  the  okl  Blefuscudian  language,  in  which 
he  made  such  a  progress  that  he  almost  forgot  his  native 
Lilliputian"  —  an  unlucky  stroke,  seeing  that  Bcntlcv's 
coniiiiaiid  of  English  was  one  of  his  marked  gifts.  This, 
however,  is  characteristic  of  all  the  satire  directed  again.st 
JJciitley  by  the  literary  men  who  allowed  a  criticism  of 
taste,  but  treated  a  criticism  of  texts  as  soulless  pedantry. 
There  is  plenty  of  banter,  but  not  one  point.  And  the 
cause  is  plain — they  understood  nothing  of  IJentley's  work. 
Take  I'ope's  extended  satire  in  the  fourth  Dunciad.  It 
is  merely  a  series  of  variations,  as  brilliant  and  as  thin  as 
Thalberg's  setting  of  "  Home,  sweet  home,"  on  the  simple 
theme,  "Dull  Uentley."  A  small  satellite  of  Pope,  one 
David  Mallet,  wrote  a  "Poem  on  Verbal  Criticism,"  in 
which  he  greets  Bentley  as  " great  eldest-born  of  Dul- 
ness!"     Mallet  deserves  to  be  remembered  with  Garth. 

In  June,  1742,  having  completed  eighty  years  and  some 
months,  Bentley  was  still  able  to  examine  for  the  Craven 
University  Scholarships — when  Christopher  Smart  was  one 
of  the  successful  competitors.  A  few  weeks  later  the  end 
came.  Ilis  grandson  tells  it  thus :  "  He  was  seized  with 
a  complaint"  (pleuritic  fever,  it  was  said)  "that  in  his 
opinion  seemed  to  indicate  a  necessity  of  immediate  bleed- 
ing; Dr.  Ileberden,  then  a  young  physician  practising  in 
Cambridge,  was  of  a  contrary  opinion,  and  the  patient  ac- 
quiesced." Bentley  died  on  July  14,  1742.  Dr.  "Wallis, 
of  Stamford  —  an  old  friend  and  adviser  who  was  sum- 
moned, but  arrived  too  late — said  that  the  measure  sug- 
gested by  the  sufferer  was  that  which  he  himself  would 
have  taken. 

Bentley  was  buried  in  the  chapel  of  Trinity  College,  on 
the  north  side  of  the  communion-rails.    The  Latin  oration 


200  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

then  customary  was  pronounced  by  riiilip  Yonge,  after- 
Avards  Public  Orator,  and  Bishop  of  Norwich,  The  day 
of  Bentley's  funeral  was  that  on  which  George  Baker  left 
Eton  for  King's  College — the  eminent  physician  to  Avhom 
it  was  partly  due  that  Cambridge  became  the  University 
of  Porson.  The  small  square  stone  in  the  pavement  of 
the  College  Chapel  bears  these  words  only : 


[Sanctae 


II.     S.     E. 
RICHARDUS    BENTLEY    S.  T.  P.  R.        I'^/J^Z 
Obiit  xiT.  Jul.  1742.  ^'^"'-^ 

jEtatis  80. 

The  words  Magister  Collegii  would  naturally  have  been 
added  to  the  second  line ;  but  in  the  view  of  those  Fel- 
lows who  acknowledged  the  judgment  of  April,  lYSS,  the 
Mastership  had  since  then  been  vacant.  In  the  hall  of  the 
College,  where  many  celebrated  names  are  commemorated 
by  the  portraits  on  the  walls,  places  of  honour  are  assigned 
to  Bacon,  Barrow,  Newton,  and  Bentley.  The  features  of 
the  great  scholar  speak  with  singular  force  from  the  can- 
vas of  Thornhill,  who  painted  him  in  his  forty-eighth  year, 
the  very  year  in  which  his  struggle  with  the  College  be- 
gan. That  picture,  Bentley's  own  bequest,  is  in  the  Mas- 
ter's Lodge.  The  pose  of  the  head  is  haughty,  almost 
defiant ;  the  eyes,  which  are  large,  prominent,  and  full  of 
bold  vivacity,  have  a  light  in  them  as  if  Bentley  were 
looking  straight  at  an  impostor  whom  he  had  detected, 
but  who  still  amused  him  ;  the  nose,  strong  and  slightly 
tip -tilted,  is  moulded  as  if  Nature  had  wished  to  show 
what  a  nose  can  do  for  the  combined  expression  of  scorn 
and  sagacity ;  and  the  general  efEect  of  the  countenance, 
at  a  first  glance,  is  one  which  suggests  power — frank,  self- 
assured,  sarcastic,  and,  I  fear  we  must  add,  insolent :  yet. 


XII.]  DOMESTIC  LIFF;.— LAST  YEARS.  201 

standing  a  little  longer  before  the  picture,  wc  bccorac 
aware  of  an  essential  kindness  in  tliosc  eyes  of  which  the 
gaze  is  so  direct  and  intrepid ;  wc  read  in  the  whole  face 
a  certain  keen  veracity ;  and  the  sense  grows — this  was  a 
man  who  could  hit  hard,  but  who  would  not  strike  a  foul 
blow,  and  whose  ruling  instinct,  whether  always  a  sure 
guide  or  not,  was  to  pierce  through  falsities  to  truth. 


CHAPTER  XIIL 

bentley's  place  in  the  history  of  scholarship. 

It  ■will  not  be  the  object  of  these  concluding  pages  to 
weigh  Bentley's  merits  against  those  of  any  individual 
scholar  in  past  or  present  times.  The  attempt,  in  such  a 
case,  to  construct  an  order  of  merit  amuses  the  competi- 
tive instinct  of  mankind,  and  may  be  an  interesting  ex- 
ercise of  private  judgment,  but  presupposes  a  common 
measure  for  claims  which  are  often,  by  their  nature,  in- 
commensurable. A  more  useful  task  is  to  consider  the 
nature  of  Bentley's  place  iu  that  development  of  scholar- 
ship which  extends  from  the  fifteenth  century  to  our  own 
day.  Caution  may  be  needed  to  avoid  drawing  lines  of 
a  delusive  sharpness  between  periods  of  which  the  char- 
acteristics rather  melt  into  each  other.  The  fact  remains, 
however,  that  general  tendencies  wei'e  successively  preva- 
lent in  a  course  which  can  be  traced.  And  Bentley  stands 
in  a  well-marked  relation  both  to  those  who  preceded  and 
to  those  who  followed  him. 

At  his  birth  in  1662  rather  more  than  two  centuries 
had  elapsed  since  the  beginning  of  the  movement  Avhich 
was  to  restore  ancient  literature  to  the  modern  world. 
During  the  earlier  of  these  two  centuries  —  from  about 
1450  to  1550  —  the  chief  seat  of  the  revival  had  been 
Italy,  which  thus  retained  by  a  new  title  that  intellectual 


CHAP.  XIII.]    PLACE  IN  THE  IlISTORV  UF  SCHoLARSIIH'.    203 

primaov  of  Europe  which  had  seemed  on  the  point  of 
passing  from  the  hinds  of  the  South.  Latin  litL-ratiire 
engrossed  the  early  Italian  scholars,  who  regarded  them- 
selves as  literary  heirs  of  Rome,  restored  to  their  rights 
after  ages  of  dispossession.  The  beauty  of  classical  form 
came  as  a  surprise  and  a  delight  to  these  children  of  the 
middle  age ;  they  admired  and  enjoyed ;  they  could  not 
criticise.  The  moic  rhetorical  parts  of  silver  Latinity 
pleased  them  best ;  a  preference  natural  to  the  Italian 
genius.  And  meanwhile  Greek  studies  had  remained  in 
the  background.  The  purest  and  most  perfect  examples 
of  form — those  which  Greek  literature  affords — were  not 
present  to  the  mind  of  the  earlier  Renaissance.  Transalp- 
ine students  resorted  to  Italy  as  for  initiation  into  sacred 
mysteries.  The  highest  eminence  in  classical  scholarship 
was  regarded  as  a  birthright  of  Italians.  The  small  circle 
of  immortals  which  included  Poggio  and  Politian  admit- 
ted only  one  foreigner,  Erasmus,  whose  cosmopolitan  tone 
gave  no  wound  to  the  national  susceptibility  of  Italians, 
and  whose  conception,  though  larger  than  theirs,  rested  on 
the  same  basis.  That  basis  was  the  imitaiio  veterum,  the 
literary  reproduction  of  ancient  form.  Erasmns  was  near- 
er than  any  of  his  predecessors  or  contemporaries  to  the 
idea  of  a  critical  philology.  Ilis  natural  gifts  for  it  arc 
suflSciently  manifest.  But  his  want  of  critical  method, 
and  of  the  sense  Avhich  requires  it,  appears  in  his  edition 
of  the  Greek  Testament. 

In  the  second  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  a  new  period 
is  opened  by  a  Frenchman  of  Italian  origin,  Joseph  Scal- 
iger.  Hitherto  scholarship  had  been  busy  with  the  form 
of  classical  literature.  Tiie  new  effort  is  to  comprehend 
the  matter.  By  liis  Latin  compositions  and  translations 
Scaliger  is  connected  with  the  Italian  age  of  Latin  stylists. 


204  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

But  his  most  serious  and  characteristic  work  was  the  en- 
deavour to  frame  a  critical  chronology  of  the  ancient  world. 
He  was  peculiarly  well-fitted  to  effect  a  transition  from 
the  old  to  the  new  aim,  because  his  industry  could  not  be 
reproached  with  dulness.  "  People  had  thought  that  aes- 
thetic pleasure  could  be  purchased  only  at  the  cost  of  crit- 
icism," says  Bernays;  "now  they  saw  the  critical  work- 
shop itself  lit  up  with  the  glow  of  artistic  inspiration."  A 
different  praise  belongs  to  Scaliger's  great  and  indefatiga- 
ble contemporary,  Isaac  Casaubon.  His  groans  over  Ath- 
enseus,  which  sometimes  reverberate  in  the  brilliant  and 
faithful  pages  of  Mr.  Pattison,  appear  to  warrant  Casau- 
bon's  comparison  of  his  toils  to  the  labours  of  penal  servi- 
tude {"  catenati  in  ergastulo  labores^^).  Bernhardy  defines 
the  merit  of  Casaubon  as  that  of  having  been  the  first  to 
popularise  a  connected  knowledge  of  ancient  life  and  man- 
ners. Two  things  had  now  been  done.  The  charm  of 
Latin  style  had  been  appreciated.  The  contents  of  ancient 
literature,  both  Latin  and  Greek,  had  been  surveyed,  and 
partly  registered. 

Bentley  approached  ancient  literature  on  the  side  which 
had  been  chiefly  cultivated  in  the  age  nearest  to  his  own. 
When  we  first  find  him  at  work,  under  Still ingfleet's  roof, 
or  in  the  libraries  of  Oxford,  he  is  evidently  less  occupied 
with  the  form  than  with  the  matter.  He  reads  extensive- 
ly, making  indexes  for  his  own  use ;  he  seeks  to  possess 
the  contents  of  the  classical  authors,  Avhether  already 
printed  or  accessible  only  in  manuscript.  An  incident 
told  by  Cumberland  is  suggestive.  Bentley  was  talking 
one  day  with  his  favourite  daughter,  when  she  hinted  a 
regret  that  he  had  devoted  so  much  of  his  time  to  criti- 
cism, rather  than  to  original  composition.  He  acknowl- 
edged the  justice  of  the  remark.    "  But  the  wit  and  genius 


XIII.]       PLACE  IN  TIIE  HISTORY  OF  SCHOLARSniP.         205 

of  those  old  beatbcns,"  he  said,  "  beguiled  nic :  and  as  I 
despaired  of  raising  myself  up  to  their  standard  upon  fair 
ground,  I  thought  the  only  chance  I  had  of  louking  over 
their  heads  wjis  to  get  upon  their  shoulders."  These  are 
the  words  of  a  man  who  had  turned  to  ancient  literature 
in  the  spirit  of  Scaliger  rather  than  in  that  of  the  Italian 
Latinists. 

But  in  the  Letter  to  Mill — when  Bcntley  was  only 
twenty-eight — we  perceive  that  his  wide  reading  bad  al- 
ready made  him  alive  to  the  necessity  of  a  work  which  no 
previous  scholar  had  thoroughly  or  successfully  undertaken. 
This  work  was  the  purification  of  the  cl;issical  texts.  They 
were  still  deformed  by  n  mass  of  errors  which  could  not 
even  be  detected  without  the  aid  of  accurate  knowledge, 
grammatical  and  metrical.  The  great  scholars  before 
Bentley,  with  all  their  admirable  merits,  had  in  this  re- 
spect resembled  aeronauts,  gazing  down  on  a  beautiful  and 
varied  country,  in  which,  however,  the  pedestrian  is  liable 
to  be  stopped  by  broken  bridges  ov  quaking  swamps. 
These  difficulties  of  the  ground,  to  which  Bentley's  patient 
march  had  brought  him,  engaged  his  first  care.  No  care 
could  hope  to  be  successful — this  he  saw  clearly — unless 
armed  with  the  resources  which  previous  scholarship  had 
provided.  The  critic  of  a  text  should  command  the 
stylist's  tact  in  language,  and  also  the  knowledge  of  the 
commentator.  In  the  Latin  preface  to  his  edition  of 
Horace,  Bentley  explains  that  his  work  is  to  be  textual, 
illustrative ;  and  then  proceeds : 

"  All  honour  to  the  learned  men  who  have  expatiated  in  the  field 
of  commentary.  They  have  done  a  most  valuable  work,  which  would 
now  have  to  be  done  from  the  beginning,  if  they  liad  not  been  before- 
hand ;  a  work  without  which  my  reader  cannot  hope  to  pass  the 
threshold  of  these  present  labours.  That  wide  reading  and  erudi- 
10 


206  BENTLEY.  [chap, 

tion,  that  knowledge  of  all  Greek  and  Latin  antiquity,  in  which  the 
commentaries  have  their  very  essence,  are  merely  subordinate  aids 
to  textual  criticism.  A  man  should  have  all  that  at  his  fingers'  ends, 
before  he  can  venture,  without  insane  rashness,  to  pass  criticism  on 
any  ancient  author.  But,  besides  this,  there  is  need  of  the  keenest 
judgment,  of  sagacity  and  quickness,  of  a  certain  divining  tact  and 
inspiration  {divinandi  quadam  peritia  ct  navriKy),  as  was  said  of 
Aristarchus— a  faculty  which  can  be  acquired  by  no  constancy  of 
toil  or  length  of  life,  but  comes  solely  by  the  gift  of  nature  and  the 
happy  star," 

Let  it  be  noted  that  Bentley's  view  is  relative  to  his 
own  day.  It  is  because  such  men  as  Casaubon  have  gone 
before  that  he  can  thus  define  his  own  purpose.  Learn- 
ing, inspired  by  insigbt,  is  now  to  be  directed  to  the  at- 
tainment of  textual  accuracy.  Bentley's  distinction  is  not 
so  mucli  the  degree  of  his  insight — rare  as  tliis  was — but 
rather  bis  method  of  applying  it.  It  might  be  said  : 
Bentley  turned  the  course  of  scholarship  aside  from  grand- 
er objects,  philosophical,  historical,  literary,  and  forced  it 
into  a  narrow  verbal  groove.  If  Bentley's  criticism  had 
been  verbal  only — which  it  was  not — such  an  objection 
would  still  be  unjust.  We  in  these  days  are  accustomed 
to  Greek  and  Latin  texts  which,  though  they  may  be  still 
more  or  less  unsound,  are  seldom  so  unsound  as  largely  to 
obscure  the  author's  meaning,  or  seriously  to  mar  our  en- 
joyment of  bis  work  as  a  work  of  art.  But  for  this  state 
of  things  we  have  mainly  to  thank  the  impulse  given  by 
Bentley. 

In  Bentley's  time  very  many  Latin  authors,  and  nearly 
all  Greek  authors,  were  known  only  through  texts  teeming 
with  every  fault  that  could  spring  from  a  scribe's  igno- 
rance of  grammar,  metre,  and  sense.  Suppose  a  piece  of 
very  bad  English  handwriting,  full  of  erasures  and  cor- 
rections, sent  to  be  printed  at  a  foreign  press.     The  for- 


XIII.]       I'LACK  IN  TIIK  IIISToUV  oF  SCllOLAlLSHII'.         -Ju? 

eign  printoi-'s  first  proof  would  be  likely  to  contain  some 
tla;jrant  errors  which  a  very  sliglit  acquaintance  with  our 
lanj^iiaixo  would  suffice  to  amend,  and  also  many  other 
errors  which  an  Englishman  could  correct  with  more  or 
less  confidence,  but  in  which  a  foreign  corrector  of  the 
press  would  not  even  perceive  anything  amiss.  In  1700 
most  of  the  classical  texts,  especially  Greek,  were  very 
much  what  such  a  proof-sheet  would  be  if  only  those  fla- 
grant errors  liad  been  removed  which  a  very  imperfect 
knowledge  of  English  would  reveal.  Relatively  to  his  con- 
temporaries, Bentioy  might  be  compared  with  the  English- 
man of  our  supposed  case,  and  his  predecessors  with  the 
foreign  correctors  of  the  press. 

Space  fails  for  examples,  but  I  may  give  one.  An  epi- 
gram of  Callimachus  begins  thus: 

Ti]v  aXitjv  EvCt]fiOQ,  if'  >/e  iiXa  Xituu  iTrtkQuiv 

Xtifii^yac  i-ityuXovQ  i^t'(pvyiv  Cav'iwv, 
07]Kf.  Otoiq  Hafiodpa^i. 

This  had  been  taken  to  mean  :  "  Eudemus  dedicated 
to  the  Samothracian  gods  that  ship  on  which,  after  cross- 
ing a  smooth  sea,  he  escaped  from  great  storms  [reading 
Aarowj']  of  the  Danai ;"  i.e.,  sucli  storms  as  -^neas  and 
his  companions  suffered ;  or  perhaps,  storms  off  the  coast 
of  tlie  Troad.  Bentlcy  changed  one  letter  (\  to  o-,  giving 
eniadivr),  and  showed  the  true  meaning :  "  Eudemus  dedi- 
cated to  the  Samothracian  gods  tliat  salt-cellar  from  which 
he  ate  frugal  salt  until  he  had  escaped  from  the  troublous 
waves  of  usury."  Eudemus  was  not  an  adventurous  mar- 
iner, but  an  impecunious  person  who  liad  literally  adopted 
the  advice  of  the  Greek  sage — "  Borrow  from  thyself  by 
reducing  thy  diet" — and  had  gradually  extricated  himself 
from  debt  by  living  on  bread  and  salt. 


208  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

The  pleader  for  large  views  of  antiquity,  who  is  in- 
clined to  depreciate  the  humbler  tasks  of  verbal  criticism, 
will  allow  that  the  frequency  of  sucli  misapprehensions 
was  calculated  to  confuse.  It  was  not  always,  indeed, 
that  Bentley  drew  the  veil  aside  witli  so  light  a  touch  ; 
but  he  has  a  reason  to  give.  "  I  would  have  you  remem- 
ber, it  is  immeasurably  more  difficult  to  make  emenda- 
tions at  this  day  (in  l7ll)  than  it  was  in  former  years. 
Those  points  which  a  mere  collation  of  the  manuscripts 
flashed  or  forced  upon  the  mind  have  generally  been 
seized  and  appropriated  ;  and  there  is  hardly  anything 
left,  save  what  is  to  be  extracted,  by  insight  alone,  from 
the  essence  of  the  thought  and  the  temper  of  the  style. 
Hence,  in  my  recension  of  Horace,  I  give  more  things  on 
conjecture  than  through  the  help  of  manuscripts ;  and 
unless  I  am  wholly  deceived,  conjecture  has  usually  been 
the  safer  guide.  Where  readings  vary,  the  very  repute  of 
the  manuscript  often  misleads,  and  provokes  the  desire  of 
change.  But  if  a  man  is  tempted  to  propose  conjectures 
against  the  witness  of  all  the  manuscripts,  Fear  and  Shame 
pluck  him  by  the  ear;  his  sole  guides  are  reason — the 
light  from  the  author's  thoughts,  and  their  constraining 
power.  Suppose  that  one  or  two  manuscripts  furnish  a 
reading  which  others  discountenance.  It  is  in  vain  that 
you  demand  belief  for  your  one  or  two  witnesses  against 
a  multitude,  unless  you  bring  as  many  arguments  as  would 
almost  suffice  to  prove  the  point  of  themselves,  without 
any  manuscript  testimony  at  all.  Shake  off,  then,  the 
exclusive  reverence  for  scribes.  Dare  to  have  a  mind  of 
your  own.  Gauge  each  reading  by  the  mould  of  the 
writer's  expression  and  the  stamp  of  his  style  ;  then,  and 
not  sooner,  pronounce  your  verdict." 

No  school  of  textual  criticism,  however  conservative,  has 


xiM.j       I'LACE  IX  THE  HISTORY  OF  SCIIOLAKSHIP. 


209 


(leniocl  that  conjecture  is  sometimes  our  sole  rcsonrcc. 
Ik-ntlcy  differs  from  the  principles  of  more  recent  criticism 
chiefly  in  rocoj^nisiiig  less  distinctly  tliat  conjecture  sliould 
be  the  last  resource.  Great  as  was  his  tact  in  the  use  of 
manuscripts,  lie  had,  as  a  rule,  too  little  of  that  respect  for 
diplomatic  evidence  which  appears,  for  instance,  in  Kitschl's 
remark  that  almost  any  manuscript  will  sometimes,  how- 
ever rarely,  deserve  more  belief  than  we  can  give  even  to  a 
conjecture  which  is  intrinsically  probable.  The  contrast, 
here,  between  Bcntley's  procedure  and  that  of  Casaubon — 
whose  caution  is  often  more  in  the  spirit  of  modern  text- 
ual science — may  be  illustrated  by  one  example.  Some 
verses  of  the  poet  Ion  stood  thus  in  the  texts  of  the  geog- 
rapher Strabo : 

Ei''/3ou'a  fiiv  yhv  XtnTog  Et'pjVoi;  kXvCiov 
Trpuf  Kpijra  iropOfiov. 

"When  Casaubon  had  made  the  necessary  change  Ikti}.iu)i\ 
he  held  his  hand.  "I  can  point  out," said  Casaubon,  "that 
this  place  is  corrupt;  amend  it  I  cannot,  without  the  help 
of  manuscriiitsy  Not  so  Bentley:  he  confidently  gives 
us,  aKTi]v  iKTEfiuiv  I  TrpoftXtjra  TropOjuu).  Xow,  if  Casaubon 
was  ineffectual,  Bentley  was  preci[)itatc.  Nothing,  surely, 
was  needed  but  to  shift  Boiio-iag  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end  of  its  verse.  If  we  suppose  that  the  words  Trpoc  Kpij-a 
TTopdfioy  belonged  to  what  precedes,  and  not  (as  is  quite 
possible)  to  something  now  lost  which  followed,  then  we 
get  a  clear  sense,  expressed  in  a  thoroughly  classical  form. 
"The  narrow  waters  of  the  Euripus  have  parted  Eubcea 
from  the  Boeotian  shore,  so  shaping  it  {eK-efuJur),  that  it 
loolvs  toward  the  Cretan  sea;"  /.  c,  the  island  of  Euboea 
runs  out  in  a  S.  E.  S.  direction.     Ancient  writers  often  de- 


210  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

note  aspect  by  naming  a  region,  tliougli  distant  and  invis- 
ible, towards  which  a  hind  looks.  Thus  Herodotus  de- 
scribes a  part  of  the  north  Sicilian  coast  as  that  which 
"looks  towards  Tyrrhenia"  {-Kpoq  Tvpa-rjyl-qv  TETpanp.ivi)). 
Milton  imitates  this  device: 

"  Where  the  great  vision  of  the  guarded  Mount 
Looks  towards  Namaneos  and  Bayona's  hold." 

I  never  understood  how  Milton  came  to  write  those  lines 
till  I  thought  of  seeking  a  clue  in  Camden  (of  whom  there 
is  another  trace  in  Lycklas) ;  and  he  gave  it.  Speaking 
of  the  Cornish  coast  adjacent  to  St.  Michael's  Mount,  Cam- 
den remarks,  "  there  is  no  other  place  in  this  island  that 
looks  towards  Spain."  This  fact  was  present  to  Milton's 
mind,  and  he  wished  to  w'ork  it  in ;  then  he  consulted 
Mercator's  Atlas,  where  he  found  the  town  of  Namaneos 
marked  near  Cape  Finisterre,  and  the  Castle  of  Bayona 
also  prominent;  these  gave  him  his  ornate  periphrasis  for 
"Spain." 

Though  Bentley  had  little  poetical  taste,  it  was  in  poetry 
that  he  exercised  his  faculty  of  emendation,  not  only  with 
most  zest,  but  with  most  success.  The  reason  is  simple. 
Metre  enabled  Bentley  to  show  a  knowledge  in  which  no 
predecessor  had  equalled  him  ;  it  also  supplied  a  frame- 
work which  limited  his  rashness.  In  prose,  his  temerity 
was  sometimes  wanton.  We  have  seen  (chapter  x.)  how 
his  ilia  would  have  swept  Itala  from  the  text  of  Augus- 
tine. One  other  instance  may  be  given.  Seneca  compares 
a  man  who  cannot  keep  his  temper  to  one  who  cannot 
control  his  limbs,  "^gros  sciraus  nervos  esse,  cum  in- 
vitis  nobis  raoventur.  Senex  aut  infirnii  corporis  est,  qui, 
cum  ambulare  vult,  curriC^  "  We  know  that  something 
is  ■wrong  with  our  nerves,  when  they  act  against  our  will. 


XTii]       I'LACE  IX  THE  HISTORY  OF  SCIIOLARSIIII*.         .ill 

It  is  only  an  old  man,  or  an  invalid,  who,  when  he  means 
to  walk,  rj<«^."  By  "  currit,^''  Soncca  describes  a  well- 
known  symptom  of  degeneration  in  the  nervous  system, 
which  modern  medical  science  terms  "  fcstination.'" 
"  Now,"  says  Bentlcy,  *'  I  do  not  sec  how  this  feeble  per- 
son can  show  such  agility.  Clearly  currit  should  be  cor- 
ruit.  lie  tries  to  walk — and  tumbles  down.  Bentlcy  did 
not  observe  that  tlic  sentence  just  before  proves  "currit" 
to  be  right :  "  Speed  is  not  to  be  desired,"  says  Seneca, 
"  unless  it  can  be  checked  at  our  pleasure, .  .  .  and  reduced 
from  a  run  to  a  walk"  (a  cursu  ad  gradum  reduci).  Of 
previous  scholars,  the  best  skilled  in  metre  was  Scaligcr. 
Yet  Scaligcr's  acquaintance  with  the  metres  of  the  classical 
ago  was  by  no  means  accurate ;  thus  his  anapa?st3  liave 
the  same  fault  as  those  of  Buchanan  and  Grotius;  and  the 
iambic  verses  which  he  prefixed  to  his  work  De  Emcnda- 
tione  Temporum  have  two  metrical  mistakes  in  four  lines. 
While  invariably  mentioning  Casaubon  with  the  respect 
due  to  so  great  a  name,  Bentley  has  more  than  once  occa- 
sion to  indicate  the  false  quantities  which  his  conjectures 
involve.  Thus  a  line  of  Sophocles,  as  given  by  Suidas, 
begins  with  the  words  iriirXovQ  (''robes")  Tiiitrai,  AVhat 
is  TEviaai  ?  Casaubon — followed  by  Meursius  and  by  Gat- 
aker  (one  of  the  best  English  Hellenists  before  Bentley) — 
proposed  k-Eyiaai,  "to  comb"  or  "card."  Pointing  out 
that  this  will  not  do,  since  the  second  syllable  must  be 
long,  Bentley  restores  Tzi-rrXovQ  re  rf^mu,  "  and  to  weave 
robes." 

As  a  commentator,  he  deals  chiefly,  though  not  ex- 
clusively, with  points  of  grammar  or  metre  bearing  on 
the  criticism  of  the  text.  Ilere  he  lias  two  merits,  each 
in  a  high  degree :  he  instructs  and  suggests.  The  notes 
on  Horace  and  Manilius,  for  example,  constantly  fail  to 


212  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

persuade,  but  seldom  fail  to  teach.  It  is  to  be  wished 
that  Bentley  bad  written  commentary,  not  merely  in  sup- 
port of  emendations,  but  continuously  illustrating  the  lan- 
guage and  matter  of  classical  authors.  If  such  a  com- 
mentary had  been  added  to  his  critical  notes  on  Aris- 
tophanes, the  whole  must  have  been  a  great  work.  His 
power  in  general  commentary  is  best  seen  in  his  treat- 
ment of  particular  points  raised  by  his  argument  on  the 
Letters  of  Phalaris.  Take,  for  instance,  his  remarks  on 
the  Sophist's  use  of  irpnvoui  to  mean  "  divine  Providence," 
and  of  (TToij^tuov  as  "a  natural  element;"  where  he  shows 
that,  before  Plato,  the  former  was  used  only  of  human 
forecast,  and  the  latter  to  denote  a  letter  of  the  alphabet : 
or,  again,  his  remark  on  such  phrases  as  Xlyerai,  "  it  is 
said" — that  Greek  writers  commonly  use  such  phrases, 
not  to  intimate  doubt,  but,  on  the  contrary,  where  the 
literary  witnesses  are  more  numerous  than  can  convenient- 
ly be  enumerated.  Other  comments  are  of  yet  larger 
scope.  Thus,  speaking  of  the  fact  that  most  ecclesiastical 
writers  place  the  date  of  Pythagoras  too  low,  he  notices 
the  need  of  allowing  for  a  general  disturbing  cause — the 
tendency  to  represent  Greek  antiquity  as  more  recent  than 
Jewish.  Answering  the  objection  that  a  Greek  comedy 
would  not  have  admitted  a  glaring  anachronism,  Bentley 
reminds  Boyle  that,  in  one  of  these  comedies,  Hercules 
comes  on  the  scene  with  his  private  tutor,  who  gives  him 
his  choice  of  several  standard  works,  including  Homer; 
but  the  young  hero  chooses  a  treatise  on  cookery  which 
was  popular  in  the  dramatist's  time.  Some  of  Bentley's 
happiest  comments  of  this  kind  occur  in  his  reply  to  An- 
thony Collins,  who  in  his  "Discourse  of  Free-thinking" 
had  appealed  to  the  most  eminent  of  the  ancients.  Here, 
for  instance,  is  a  remark  on  Cicero's  philosophical  dia- 


xiii.J       I'LACE  IX  TUE  UISTORY  OF  .SCIIOLAliSHIP.         213 

logncs.  "  In  all  the  disputes  lie  introduces  between  the 
various  sects,  after  the  speeches  arc  ended,  every  man 
sticks  wlierc  he  was  before ;  not  one  convert  is  made  (as 
is  common  in  modern  dialogue),  nor  brought  over  in  the 
smallest  article.  For  he  avoided  that  violation  of  deco- 
rum ;  he  had  observed,  in  common  life,  that  all  perse- 
vered in  tiieir  sects,  and  maintained  every  nostrum  with- 
out reserve." 

Bcntley's  "higher  criticism" — of  ancient  history,  chro- 
nology, philosophy,  literature — is  mainly  represented  by  the 
dissertation  on  Phalaris;  but  his  calibre  can  also  be  esti- 
mated by  his  sketchy  treatment  of  particular  topics  in  the 
reply  to  Collins  and  in  the  Boyle  Lectures.  Of  the  schol- 
ars before  Bentlcy,  Usher  and  Seldcn  might  be  partly  com- 
pared with  him  in  this  province;  but  the  only  one,  per- 
haps, who  had  built  similar  work  on  a  comparable  basis 
of  classical  learning  was  Scaligcr.  In  Bcntley's  estima- 
tion, to  judge  by  the  tone  of  his  references  to  Scaligcr, 
no  one  stood  liiglicr.  AVith  all  the  differences  between 
Bentlcy  and  Scaligcr,  there  was  this  essential  resemblance, 
that  both  men  vivified  great  masses  of  learning  by  ardent, 
though  dissimilar,  genius : 

"Sph-itus  intus  alit,  totamque  infusa  per  arttis 
Mens  agitat  molem,  ct  niagno  se  in  corporc  miscet." 

"While  Scaligcr  had  constantly  before  him  the  concep- 
tion of  antiquity  as  a  whole  to  be  mentally  grasped,  Bent- 
ley's  criticism  rested  on  a  knowledge  more  complete  in  de- 
tail ;  it  was  also  conducted  with  a  closer  and  more  powerful 
logic.  The  fact  which  has  told  most  against  the  popular 
diffusion  of  Bcntley's  fame  is  that  he  is  so  much  greater 
than  any  one  of  his  books.  Probably  many  school-boys 
have  passed  through  a  stage  of  secretly  wondering  why 
10* 


214  BENTLEY.  [coap, 

so  much  was  tliongiit  of  tliis  Bentley,  known  to  tbem  only 
as  the  proposer  of  some  rash  emendations  on  Horace. 
Bentley's  true  greatness  is  not  easily  understood  until 
Lis  work  Las  been  surveyed  in  its  entirety,  witli  a  clear 
sense  of  tLe  time  at  wLich  it  was  done ;  until  tLe  original 
learning  and  native  power  of  Lis  metLod  are  appreciated 
apart  from  the  sometimes  brilliant,  sometimes  faulty  re- 
sult ;  until,  in  sLort,  the  letter  of  Lis  record  is  lit  up  for 
us  by  tLe  living  force  of  Lis  cLaractcr  and  mind. 

WLat  Las  been  tbc  nature  of  Bentley's  influence  on  tLe 
subsequent  course  of  scLolarsLip  ?  In  tLe  first  place,  it 
cannot  be  properly  said  tbat  Le  founded  a  scLool.  Tliat 
pLrase  may  express  tLe  relation  of  disciples  to  tLe  master 
wLo  Las  personally  formed  tLcm,  as  EuLnken  belongs  to 
tLe  scLool  of  IlerasterLuys ;  or,  wLere  tLere  Las  been  no 
personal  intercourse,  it  may  denote  tLe  tradition  of  a  well- 
defined  scope  or  style ;  as  tLe  late  RicLard  SLilleto  (in  Lis 
masterly  edition  of  DemostLenes  "  On  tLe  Embassy,"  for 
instance)  belongs  to  tLe  scLool  of  Porson,  Wolf  said  tLat 
if  Cambridge  Lad  required  Bentley  to  lecture  on  classics, 
Le  would  probably  have  left  a  more  distinct  impress  on 
some  of  tLose  wLo  came  after  Lim.  TLough  the  tone  of 
"Wolf's  remark  is  more  German  than  English,  it  applies 
with  peculiar  point  to  Bentley,  in  whom  the  scholar  was 
before  all  things  the  man,  and  who  often  writes  like  one 
who  would  have  preferred  to  speak.  But  neither  thus,  nor 
by  set  models  of  literary  achievement,  did  Bentley  create 
anything  so  definite — or  so  narrow— as  a  school.  Goethe 
used  the  word  "daemonic"  to  describe  a  power  of  mind 
over  mind  which  eludes  natural  analysis,  but  seems  to  in- 
volve a  peculiar  union  of  keen  insight  with  moral  self-reli- 
ance. In  the  sphere  of  scholarship,  the  influence  which 
Bentley's  spirit  has  exerted  through  his  writings  might  be 


xiii.)       TLACE  IX  THE  HISTORY  OF  SCHOLARSnir.         215 

called  a  great  '*  daemonic  "  energy,  a  force  which  cannot 
be  measured — like  that,  for  instance,  of  Porson — by  the 
positive  cfToct  of  particular  discoveries ;  a  force  which 
operates  not  only  by  the  written  letter,  but  also,  and  more 
widely  still,  by  suggestion,  stimulus,  inspiration,  almost  as 
vivid  as  could  be  communicated  by  the  voice,  the  counte- 
nance, the  appiehcndcd  nature  of  a  present  teacher. 

Bentley's  intiucncc  has  flowed  in  two  main  streams — 
the  historical  and  literary  criticism  of  classical  antiquity, 
as  best  seen  in  the  dissertation  on  Phalaris ;  the  verbal 
criticism,  as  seen  in  his  work  on  classical  texts.  Holland, 
and  then  Germany,  received  both  currents.  Wolfs  in- 
quiry into  the  origin  of  the  Homeric  poems,  Niebuhr's 
examination  of  Roman  legends,  arc  the  efforts  of  a  criti- 
cism to  which  Bentley's  dissertation  on  Phalaris  gave  the 
first  pattern  of  method.  On  the  other  hand,  Hermann's 
estimate  of  Bentley's  Terence  is  one  of  the  earlier  testi- 
monies to  the  effect  which  Bentley's  verbal  criticism  had 
exercised ;  and  Professor  Nettleship  has  told  us  that  the 
late  Maurice  Haupt,  in  his  lectures  at  Berlin  on  the  Epis- 
tles of  Horace,  ranked  Bcntley  second  to  no  other  scholar. 
Wc,  Bentley's  countrymen,  have  felt  his  influence  chiefly 
in  the  way  of  textual  criticism.  The  historical  and  lit- 
erary criticism  by  which  he  stimulated  such  men  as  Wolf 
was  comparatively  unappreciated  in  England  until  its 
effects  returned  upon  this  country  from  Germany.  Bun- 
sen  could  justly  say,  "Historical  philology  is  the  discovery 
of  Bentley — the  heritage  and  glory  of  German  learning." 
At  Cambridge,  Bentley's  home — where  Markland,  Wassc, 
and  John  Taylor  had  known  him  personally — it  was  natu- 
ral that  the  contemporary  view  of  his  merits  should  be 
coloured  by  his  own  estimate ;  and  he  considered  verbal 
emendation  as  his  own  forte.     This  opinion  prevailed  in 


216  EENTi.EY.  [chap. 

tlie  Cambridge  tradition,  wLicli  from  Markland  and  Taylor 
passed  into  the  school  of  Person.  It  was  in  vain  that 
Richard  Dawes  disparaged  Bentley's  textual  criticism, 
Warbnrton  and  Lowth  were  more  successful  in  prejudicing 
English  opinion  against  other  aspects  of  his  work.  That 
his  labours  on  the  Greek  Testament  were  so  little  known 
in  England  from  Lis  death  to  Lachmann's  time,  is  chiefly 
due  to  the  fact  (noticed  by  Tregelles)  that  Bishop  Marsh, 
in  translating  Michaelis,  omitted  the  passage  relating  to 
Bentley.  But  while  English  recognition  was  thus  limited, 
Holland  honoured  him  by  the  mouths  of  Euhnken  and 
Valckenaer.  And  the  memoir  of  Bentley  by  F.  A.  Wolf 
may  be  regarded  as  registering  an  estimate  which  Ger- 
many has  not  essentially  altered. 

The  place  of  Bentley  in  literature  primarily  depends  on 
the  fact  that  he  represents  England  among  a  few  great 
scholars,  of  various  countries,  who  helped  to  restore  classi- 
cal learning  in  Europe.  Nor  is  he  merely  one  among 
them;  he  is  one  with  whom  an  epoch  begins.  Erasmus 
marks  the  highest  point  reached  in  the  sixteenth  century 
by  the  genial  study  of  antiquity  on  its  literary  side.  Scal- 
iger  expresses  the  effort,  at  once  erudite  and  artistic,  to 
comprehend  antiquity  as  a  whole  in  the  light  of  verified 
history.  Casaubon  embodies  the  devoted  endeavour  to 
comprehend  ancient  society  in  the  light  of  its  recorded 
manners,  without  irradiating  or  disturbing  the  effect  by 
any  play  of  personal  thought  or  feeling.  With  Bentley 
that  large  conception  of  antiquity  on  the  "  real "  side  is 
still  present,  but  as  a  condition  tacitly  presupposed,  not 
as  the  evident  guide  of  his  immediate  task.  He  feels  the 
greatness  of  his  predecessors  as  it  could  be  felt  only  by 
their  peer,  but  sees  that  the  very  foundations  on  which 
they  built — the  classical  books  themselves — must  be  ren- 


xiii]       PLACE  IS  THE  HISTORY  OF  SCIIOLARSIIir.         217 

dcrcd  sound,  if  the  edifice  is  Id  be  iiplicld  or  completed. 
He  does  not  disparai^e  tliat  "liiti^Iier"  criticism  in  which 
his  own  powers  were  so  signally  proved ;  rather  his  oKjcct 
is  to  establish  it  lirmly  on  the  only  basis  which  can  se- 
curely su[)port  it,  the  basis  of  ascertained  texts.  His 
labours  were  fruitful  both  in  Greek  and  in  Latin.  How- 
ever we  may  estimate  his  felicity  in  the  two  languages  re- 
spectively, it  cannot  be  said  that  he  gave  to  either  a  clear 
preference  over  the  other. 

This  is  distinctive  of  his  position  relatively  to  the  gen- 
eral course  of  subsequent  scholarship.  During  the  Latter 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century  several  causes  conspired 
to  fix  attention  upon  Greek.  The  elastic  freedom  of  the 
Greek  language  and  literature,  of  Greek  action  and  art, 
was  congenial  to  tlie  spirit  of  that  time,  insurgent  as  it 
was  against  traditional  authority,  and  impatient  to  find  a 
reasonable  order  of  life  by  a  return  to  nature.  Wolf,  in 
1795,  touched  a  chord  whicli  vibrated  throughout  Europe 
when  he  claimed  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey  as  groups  of 
songs  which  in  a  primitive  age  had  spoken  directly  to  the 
hearts  of  the  people.  His  theory,  raising  a  host  of  special 
questions,  stimulated  researcli  in  the  wliolc  range  of  that 
matchless  literature  which  begins  with  Homer.  The  field 
of  Greek  studies,  as  compared  with  Latin,  was  still  com- 
paratively fresh.  Latin  had  long  been  familiar  as  the  lan- 
guage Avhich  scholars  wrote,  or  even  spoke ;  and  the  fur- 
ther progress  of  Latin  learning  was  delayed  by  the  belief 
that  there  was  little  more  to  learn.  Greek,  on  the  other 
hand,  attracted  acute  minds  not  only  by  its  intrinsic  charm, 
but  by  the  hope  of  discovery;  the  Greek  scholar,  like  the 
Greek  sailor  of  old,  was  attended  by  visions  of  treasures 
that  might  await  him  in  the  region  of  the  sunset. 

Porson  was  born  in  1759  and  died  in  1808.    In  his  life- 


218  BENTLEY.  [chap. 

time,  and  for  more  than  a  generation  after  his  death,  schol- 
ars were  principally  occupied  with  Greek.  Amongst  many 
eminent  names,  it  would  be  enough  to  mention  Wytten- 
bach,  Brunck,  Hermann,  Boechh,  Lobeck,  Bekker,  Elmsley, 
Dobree,  Blomfield,  Gaisford,  Thirlwall.  In  Latin  scholar- 
ship, Heyne's  Virgil  was  perhaps  the  most  considerable 
performance  of  Porson's  day.  Then  Nicbuhr  arose,  and 
turned  new  currents  of  interest  towards  Rome.  His  ex- 
amination of  early  Eoman  tradition  did  much  the  same 
work  for  Latin  which  Wolf's  Homeric  theory  had  done 
for  Greek.  Ideas  of  startling  novelty  stimulated  the  criti- 
cal study  of  a  whole  literature ;  and  the  value  of  the  im- 
pulse was  independent  of  the  extent  to  which  the  ideas 
themselves  were  sound.  Niebuhr's  thoughts,  like  Wolf's, 
were  given  to  the  world  in  a  propitious  hour.  Wolf 
broached  views  welcome  to  the  mind  of  the  Revolution ; 
Niebuhr  proposed  a  complex  problem  of  fascinating  inter- 
est at  a  moment  when  intellectual  pursuits  were  resumed 
with  a  new  zest  after  the  exhaustion  of  the  Napoleonic 
wars.  And  then,  at  no  long  interval,  came  the  works 
which  may  be  regarded  as  fundamental  in  the  recent  Latin 
philology — those  of  Lachmann,  Ritschl,  Mommsen. 

Bentley's  name  is  the  last  of  first-rate  magnitude  which 
occurs  above  the  point  at  which  Greek  and  Latin  studies 
begin  to  diverge.  His  critical  method,  his  pregnant  ideas 
have  influenced  the  leaders  of  progress  in  both  fields. 
Wolf's  memoir  of  Bentlcy  has  been  mentioned.  Niebuhr 
also  speaks  of  him  as  towering  like  a  giant  amidst  a  gen- 
eration of  dwarfs.  His  genius  was  recognised  by  Ritschl 
as  by  Porson.  It  is  still  possible  to  ask,  Was  Bentley 
stronger  in  Greek  or  in  Latin  ?  I  have  heard  a  very  emi- 
nent scholar  say — in  Latin  :  the  general  voice  would  prob- 
ably say — in  Greek ;  and  this  is  hardly  disputable,  if  our 


xm.]       PLACE  IN  TIIK  IIISToUV  OF  SCIIOLARSIIir.         2VJ 

test  is  to  be  success  in  textual  criticism.  Bentley  lias 
given  few,  if  any,  Latin  emendations  so  good  as  his  best 
on  Aristophanes,  Calliniachus,  Nicander,  and  some  otlier 
Greek  authors.  Yet  tlic  statement  needs  to  be  guarded 
and  cxphiincd.  In  Bentley's  time,  Latin  studies  were  more 
advanced  than  Greek,  licntloy's  emendations,  as  a  gen- 
eral rule,  arc  best  when  the  text  is  worst.  The  Greek 
texts,  in  which  the  first  liarvest  liad  not  yet  been  reaped, 
offered  him  a  better  field  than  the  Latin.  His  personal 
genius,  with  its  vivacity  somewhat  impatient  of  formula, 
was  also  more  Greek  than  Latin ;  his  treatment  of  Greek 
usually  seems  more  sympathetic ;  but  it  might  be  doubted 
whether  his  positive  knowledge  of  the  Latin  language  and 
literature  was  inferior.  If  it  is  said  that  there  arc  flaws 
in  l»is  Latin  prose,  it  may  be  replied  that  we  have  none  of 
his  Greek  prose. 

The  gain  of  scholarship  during  the  last  fifty  years  has 
been  chiefly  in  three  provinces  —  study  of  manuscripts, 
study  of  inscriptions,  and  comparative  philology.  The 
direct  importance  of  archaeology  for  classical  learning  has 
of  late  years  been  winning  fuller  recognition — to  the  ad- 
vantage of  both.  In  Bentley's  time  no  one  of  these  four 
studies  liad  yet  become  scientific.  That  very  fact  best 
illustrates  the  calibre  of  the  man  who,  a  century  and  a 
half  ago,  put  forth  principles  of  textual  criticism  after- 
wards adopted  by  Lachmann ;  merited  the  title,  "first  of 
critics,"  from  such  an  editor  of  Greek  inscriptions  as 
Boeckh ;  divined  the  presence  of  the  digamma  in  the 
text  of  Homer;  treated  an  obscure  branch  of  numis- 
matics with  an  insight  which  the  most  recent  researches, 
aided  by  new  resources,  recognise  as  extraordinary.  Bent- 
ley's qualities,  mental  and  moral,  fitted  him  to  be  a  pio- 
neer over  a  wide  region,  rather  than,  like  Porson,  the  per- 


220  BENTLEV.  [chap. 

feet  eultlvator  of  a  limited  domain  ;  Bentley  cleared  new 
ground,  made  new  paths,  opened  new  perspectives,  ranged 
tbrougli  the  length  and  breadth  of  ancient  literature  as 
Hercules,  in  the  Trachiniae  of  Sophocles,  claims  to  have 
roamed  through  Hellas,  sweeping  from  hill,  lake,  and  for- 
est those  monstrous  forms  before  which  superstition  had 
quailed,  or  which  helpless  apathy  had  suffered  to  infest 
the  dark  places  of  the  land. 

Probably  the  study  of  classical  antiquity,  in  the  largest 
sense,  has  never  been  more  really  vigorous  than  it  is  at 
the  present  day.  If  so,  it  is  partly  because  that  study 
relies  no  longer  upon  a  narrow  or  exclusive  prescription, 
but  npon  a  reasonable  perception  of  its  proper  place 
amongst  the  studies  which  belong  to  a  liberal  education ; 
and  because  the  diffusion  of  that  which  is  specially  named 
science  has  at  the  same  time  spread  abroad  the  only  spirit 
in  which  any  kind  of  knowledge  can  be  prosecuted  to  a 
result  of  lasting  intellectual  value.  AVhilst  every  year 
tends  to  refine  the  subdivision  of  labour  in  that  vast  field, 
Bentley's  work  teaches  a  simple  lesson  which  is  still  ap- 
plicable to  every  part  of  it.  The  literary  activity  of  the 
present  day  has  multiplied  attractive  facilities  for  becom- 
ing acquainted  with  the  ancient  classics  at  second-hand. 
Every  sensible  person  -will  rejoice  that  such  facilities  ex- 
ist ;  they  are  excellent  in  their  own  way.  Only  it  is  im- 
portant not  to  forget  the  difference  between  the  knowl- 
edge at  second-hand  and  the  knowledge  at  first-hand, 
■whether  regard  is  had  to  the  educational  effect  of  the 
process,  or  to  the  worth  of  the  acquisition,  or  to  the 
hope  of  further  advance.  Even  with  a  Bentley's  power, 
a  Bentley  could  have  been  made  only  by  his  method — ■ 
by  his  devoted  and  systematic  study,  not  of  books  about 
the  classics,  but  of  the  classical  texts  themselves ;  by  test- 


XIII. J       I'LACE  I.\  Tin:  IILSTOllY  OF  SCllOLAUSUir.  221 

ing,  at  cacli  step,  liis  comprehension  of  what  he  rcail ;  hy 
not  allowing  the  mere  authority  of  tradition  to  supersede 
tlic  free  exercise  of  independent  judgment;  and  by  always 
remembering  that  the  very  right  of  such  judgment  to  in- 
dependence must  rest  on  the  patience,  the  intelligence, 
the  completeness  with  which  the  tradition  itself  has  been 
surveyed. 


THE    END. 


ENGLISH  MEN  OK  LETTI'RS. 

EDITED    BY    JOHN    MORLEY. 

The  following  Volumes  are  now  ready: 

JOUNSON Lr.si.in  S rrniF.s. 

GIBBON J.  I'.  M.)ni80N. 

SCOTT U.U.  II iTTON, 

SHELLEY J.  A.  SvMOM.B. 

HUME T.  H.  IIixi.EV. 

(iOLDSMITII Wii.i.i AM  Black. 

DEFOE William  Minto. 

BURNS J.  C.  Siiairp. 

SPENSER R.  W.  Cia-Bcii. 

THACKERAY Anthony  TuoLLorK. 

I5URKE John  Moui.ev. 

M ILTON Maiik  Pattison. 

HAWTHORNE Henhy  James,  Jr. 

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CHAUCElt A.  W.  Waud. 

BUNYAN J.  A.  Feoude. 

COWPER. GoLDWiN  Smith. 

POPE Leslie  Stei-iien, 

BYRON John  Nicuol. 

LOCKE Thomas  Fowleb. 

WORDSWORTH F.  Myeus. 

DRYDEN G.  Saintsucky. 

LANDOR Sin.NEY  Colvin. 

DE  QUINCEY David  Masson. 

LAMB Alfred  Ainger. 

BENTLEY R.  C.  Jebb. 

DICKENS A.  W.  Ward. 

GRAY E.  W.  G088E. 

SWIFT Leslie  Stephen. 

STERNE II.  D.  Traill. 

MACAL'L.\Y J.  Cotter  ^Iouison. 

FIELDING Austin  Dohson. 

SHERIDAN Mrs.  Oliphant. 

ADDISON W.  J.  CouRTuopK. 

BACON R.  W.  CurRcu. 

COLERIDGE U.  D.  Tkailu 

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COLERIDGE'S  COMPLETE  WORKS. 


THE  COMPLETE  WORKS  OF  SAMUEL  TAYLOR  COLE- 
RIDGE. With  an  Introductory  Essay  upon  bis  Philosophi- 
cal and  Theological  Opinions.  New  Library  Edition.  Ed- 
ited by  Professor  W.  G.  T.  Siiedd.  With  Steel  Portrait,  and 
an  Index  prepai'ed  by  Arthur  Gilraan.  In  Seven  Volumes. 
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Contents:  Vol.  L  Aids  to  Reflection,  Statesman's  Manual. — 
Vol.  II.  The  Friend.— Vol.  III.  Biographia  Literaria.— Vol.  IV. 
Lectures  upon  Sliakespeare  and  Other  Dramatists. — Vol.  V.  The 
Literary  Remains,  Confessions  of  an  Inquirinf;:  Spirit. — Vol.  VI. 
Church  and  State,  A  Lay  Sermon,  Table  Talk,  etc.— Vol.  VIL 
Poetical  and  Dramatic  Works. 

The  Ineluence  of  Coleridge. 
The  publication  of  a  complete  edition  of  the  writings  of  Coleridge 
by  the  Harpers  deserves  notice.  *  *  *  It  is  not  as  a  system-builder 
that  Coleridge  is  to  be  regarded.  *  *  *  He  is  jDrofoundly  suggestive, 
throwing  light  on  many  subjects;  but  his  thought  is  scattered  and 
fragmentary.  *  *  *  His  influence  in  the  future  will  be  that  which  it 
has  been  in  the  past,  and  he  will  continue  to  act  as  a  personal  mag- 
net. No  thinker  of  the  present  century  has  had  a  greater  influence 
on  English  thought  tlian  Coleridge.  It  has  been  a  subtle,  penetra- 
tive, and  commanding  influence,  touching  many  individuals,  and 
giving  direction  to  the  noblest  literary  and  religious  movements. 
He  may  be  regarded  as  the  very  centre  of  the  new  creative  epoch  in 
English  literature.  The  names  of  his  intimate  friends,  those  who 
were  quickened  and  directed  by  him,  are  a  sufficient  testimony  to 
the  power  of  his  invigorating  mind.  His  name  is  indissolubly  asso- 
ciated with  those  of  Wordsworth,  Southey,  Lamb,  De  Quincey,  and 
Hazlitt.  His  influence  went  much  beyond  these  men,  touching 
Carlyle,  Emerson,  Froude,  Arnold,  Clough,  Sterling,  Keble,  Home, 
Bailey,  and  many  others.  It  has  reached  even  those  who  were  not 
his  personal  friends  or  readers  of  his  books,  giving  the  poets  a  keen- 
er spiritual  insight,  a  closer  sympathy  with  nature  in  all  its  forms 
and  expressions,  and  especially  a  more  perfect  command  over  the 
language  as  an  instrument  of  poetical  creation.  *  *  *  To  Coleridge, 
more  than  to  any  other  single  person  or  influence,  is  England  in- 
debted for  the  Broad-Church  movement.  To  him  Arnold,  Maurice, 
Robertson,  and  Kingsley  have  turned,  as  to  a  personal  friend  and 
confidant.  No  reader  of  their  biographies  can  forget  how  im])or- 
tant  his  ideas  were  in  shaping  their  religious  convictions.  Tliat 
whole  movement  is  in  his  "Confessions  of  an  Inquiring  Spirit,"  for 
therein  he  turns  away  from  the  letter  and  miracle  of'the  Bible  to 
find  its  living  truth,  and  its  power  to  inspire  a  holy  purpose.  Thom- 
as Arnold  refers  to  him  in  words  of  the  strongest  admiration,  and 
says  that  with  all  his  fliults  he  was  "  more  of  agreat  man  than  any 
one  who  has  lived  within  the  four  seas  in  his  memory." — Tlie  Critic 
and  Good  Lilerature. 


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It  is  clear  and  interesting  to  read,  and  will  be  of  permanent  valua 
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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 

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